


Young Justice: Blood Red Shadows

by Calazar



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 19:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8766211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calazar/pseuds/Calazar
Summary: Robin and Raven, Teen Titans and protectors of Earth 17, sacrifice themselves to save Jump City. But instead of passing on, they find themselves right back where that started, on Earth 16. Returning to what they do best they become the new heroes of Jump City, with Robin assuming the Red X persona once again, where they catch the attention of the Justice League.





	1. Chapter 1

YOUNG JUSTICE: Blood Red Shadows.

A/N: I do not own Teen Titans, DC Comics, or Young Justice.

Chapter One.

End of Days

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted as Monsieur Mallah stepped forward.

Beast Boy immediately changed into a gorilla of the same size as Mallah and charged the black, French gorilla. The large ape met the shapeshifter head on and the two started to wrestle. Meanwhile, Starfire flew into the air and began to fire green energy bolts at the Brain who was standing in front of the computer console behind Mallah. Using a retractable cable-like arm, Brain promptly pressed a button on the console, generating a shield of blue energy which absorbed the bolts. Cyborg raised his arm and fired a blue laser at the shield only for it to hum and glow brighter.

"That shield won't go down unless somebody destroys the console," he shouted, powering down his arm cannon. Raven flew up into the air and she raised her hands.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she shouted as dark energy condensed around her hands.

All around the Brain, wires and pipes coated with Raven's shadow-like energy burst out of their previous holdings and attacked the brain in the jar. The Brain apparently was expecting this, as he once again pressed a button on the console. A loud hum was heard and the wires and pipes fell to the ground.

"You see, young heroes, I cannot be beaten this time," the Brain said in his robotic voice. "I have computed every outcome and have prepared accordingly."

As he said this panels opened up in the grey walls, revealing several ringed rods. They shot out lightning out at Cyborg, causing him to yell in pain. A few more panels opened up and trapped Starfire in a blue bubble, much like the one that Brain was in.

As all of this was happening as Robin had been jumping from wall to wall, destroying laser guns that were blasting at him. He had soon taken out the last one and looked down to see how his team was doing. He watched as Cyborg collapsed and Starfire beat against the bubble uselessly, screaming curses in both English and Tamaranian. Beast Boy shifted into a tyrannosaurus rex and tried to eat Mallah, only for the talking gorilla to punch him in the head. The attack shocked the green boy out of his monstrous form and slammed him into a wall. He slumped onto the floor, unconscious. Raven was flying around, avoiding electrically charged cables that shot out of the wall at her, creating a net of electrified doom.

Robin grabbed throwing birds from his belt and threw them at some wires that would have hit his teammate. They flew through the air, making a slight whistling sound as they did, and hit the approaching cables, knocking them away just in time.

"You cannot win. We shall reign victorious this time," the Brain taunted from the safety of his forcefield. "And now for the grand finale of the Teen Titans-I shall destroy you and all that you hold dear."

The robot extended an arm out to a lever and pulled it down. In the corner of the room a turret rose from the floor. It started to spark and sizzle as it powered up. Robin threw a throwing bird at it, only for it to be blocked by Monsieur Mallah, who jumped in front of the projectile. It hit his chest harmlessly and he laughed at the two remaining heroes. He landed and calmly walked over to the edge of the forcefield. The Brain switched a lever and the field surrounding him fell. Before Mallah had a chance to carry him to safety, Raven flew at the now exposed robot and accessed her power, making her eyes glow white. She encased Brain in two sheets of metal and welded them to the floor.

Robin leapt off of the wall and used his cape to glide towards Mallah, who was growling and breaking the Brain free of Raven's metal cage. The Boy Wonder pulled out his collapsible bo staff and brought it down on Mallah's head. The ape growled and turned to face the colorful hero.

"Ignore him, Mallah," the Brain said. "They have already lost."

The ape looked at the robot and nodded. He then ripped the Brain off of its body. He ran away while Robin jumped in front of the fleeing villains. He smirked at them.

"You're done, Brain," Robin said as he crouched in a battle stance.

"I think not." Brain said.

The ape leveled a minigun at the Boy Wonder and fired. A stream of red lasers blasted out of the gun, causing the boy to roll to the side to avoid getting shot to pieces. This allowed the ape to climb out of the room and escape out of a window that the Titans had originally used to enter the lab. It was only then that Robin felt the wind pulling at his hair and cape. He looked around to see a massive black vortex in the center of the room. Raven was standing in front of it, appearing to be meditating as the vortex pulled in everything that wasn't bolted to the floor, including the other Titans.

"Raven, what happened?" Robin called as he lunged and grabbed Beast Boy from flying into the black hole. Raven opened her violet eyes then answered in her usual monotone.

"The turret that the Brain activated, it fired a- Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she said before breaking off and shouting out her spell to stop Starfire's bubble and Cyborg from flying and sharing the same fate as the rest of the lab.

"I get the picture," Robin said as he grabbed Beast Boy from the air and slung the shapeshifter over his shoulder. Robin then hauled the green boy as far away from the hole as he could. "How do we stop it?"

"Friends, we must stop this or our city could be destroyed!" Starfire said in her bubble. Robin nodded and looked at Raven.

"We need to break it's core," Raven said with her eyes closed as she probed the growing vortex with her powers. "But whoever does it won't be coming back." Robin narrowed his eyes through his mask and hissed like a cat.

"I'm going," he said simply before jumping onto the wall that Beast Boy's limp body was resting against and pushing off with his legs. He sailed straight for the center of the vortex.

"Robin, no!" Starfire yelled.

Just as he was about to enter the vortex, it's pull increased, hauling Raven almost directly in front of him. Robin had no time to react as he collided with Raven and they were both sent tumbling into the hole. Robin saw a lightless sphere and assumed that it must have been the center of the hole. He threw a bird at it, yelling as he did so but no sound came out.

When the weapon got close to the core, it compressed and became a tiny ball of compacted steel. Robin watched as his weapon became smaller and smaller until it was nothing but a speck. He tried again with another but only for it to happen again. Raven saw that he was failing and tried to help him.

She sent her shadow magic at it, but nothing got to the core. Robin raised one of his exploding birds, already primed, and showed it to Raven. She sent a tendril of power into his mind through their mental connection so they could communicate in the soundless place.

I'll throw this and you protect it for as long as you can, Robin told her. Raven nodded and raised a barrier around the small object as Robin threw it with all his might.

The blinking projectile sailed so close to the core that Robin thought it might actually hit it, but Raven's power failed at that moment. The bomb compressed and exploded in a flash of yellow and red and the two Titans saw only light as the explosion engulfed them and the core.

Starfire saw nothing of her friends after they had been launched into the black hole. She stared at the hole for several moments, waiting for the monstrosity that had claimed her friends to disappear. She saw a flash of light from the center of the vortex and then the black hole disappeared in an explosion. The wind immediately stopped howling and all was silent in the lab. Cyborg groaned and sat up.

"Man, what happened? Where are Brain and Mallah?" he asked, checking his systems. When he was sure that he was fully functional, he stood up and went over to Beast Boy. "Yo, BB, wake up."

"The Mallah hit him particularly hard, friend Cyborg," Starfire said. Cyborg looked over at her and frowned.

"Let's get you out of there," he said shifting his arm into a variety of different tools.

He moved over to the computer console and flipped a few switches and soldered a few wires, releasing the Tamaranian princess. She fell to the floor and walked over to their green-skinned friend somberly.

"Hey, where's Rob and Ray?" Cyborg asked as he looked around the room.

"I am afraid that friends Robin and Raven will not be joining us this Blorthog," Starfire said sadly before starting to cry into her robotic friend's shoulder.

Cyborg didn't know what to do. Robin had been their leader, and Raven, sure the girl was hard to get along with at times, but she was still an important part of the team. He grabbed Beast Boy and held Starfire as she cried. They would go back to the Tower and figure out what to do now that their fellow Titans were no more.

Robin woke up with a splitting headache. He was laying in a warehouse with boxes all around him. He sat up and looked around. He saw that several of the boxes had been knocked over and that he was sitting in the ruins of one. He noticed Raven laying in the remains of another box a little to his left and a pile of white dust under his feet. He swiped his gloved finger across the powder and smelled it. Vertigo. This was obviously an illegal storage facility of some kind. Robin shook head. He would deal with this later. Now was the time to get back to the Titan's Tower and get Raven medical attention. He pulled out his communicator and pressed the transmit button.

"Titans, this is Robin, requesting immediate assistance," he said into the small circular device. He waited for a second and only heard static. "Cyborg? Starfire? Anyone?"

Again, he got no response. Robin sighed. Guess it was the old-fashioned way, then. He got to his feet and was surprised to find that he was mostly unhurt. Just a few cut and bruises here and there, though his uniform was ruined. He walked over to Raven's body and gently lifted her up, having her draped across his arms. He jogged out of the warehouse and onto a wooden dock that had a few boats by it. It was mid-evening, with the sun just starting to set on the calm water.

Robin dragged his gaze away from the ocean view and onto the city. As he gazed on the sprawling gray buildings, he easily realized that he was in Jump City's harbor, right across from the Tower Island. He turned, expecting to see his home, and he saw that instead of the massive T-shaped tower, there was a small beach side resort residing on the small spot of land. Robin's eyes widened then narrowed suspiciously.

"Something's wrong," he muttered to himself. Raven groaned and Robin realized that she needed some form of medical attention.

He jogged down the pier and into the city that he was so familiar with. He stepped into an alley and gently laid Raven down. He tried to assess her condition. She wasn't exhibiting signs that she was injured. Her power would have been lashing out everywhere if that was true. She wasn't running a fever or anything of the sort. The best the Robin could figure she was just taking longer to wake up than he was.

He stayed in the alley until it was dark, nearly black in the under belly of the city, then once again picked up his comatose friend. He walked slowly this time as he carried Raven down the alleyways, though he stayed alert, expecting trouble of some sort. He was heading for the only place that he was sure would be abandoned-Slade's factory, as much as he loathed to stay there.

He made it to the factory with no trouble, much to his surprise, and just from looking at the outside he knew that nothing had changed in since he had last been there. The factory was as run down as Robin remembered it, if not more so. He entered the decrepit building and went down to the basement and laid Raven on the ground once again. It was eerie the gears that had normally turned silently in the shadows were still.

What's the matter Robin? Scared of your former master's den? Robin could almost hear his deceased enemy whispering in his ear. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, after all. There were too many bad memories in this place.

Robin sighed as he looked around for any form of computer-it wouldn't do for him and Raven just to wander around, hoping to walk into answers. He eventually found a discarded laptop that had been left in an old office of some sort. It was practically dead and was missing several components, so he had to connect it to the factory's generator to get it to work. Once he fixed the old machine and got the power current fluctuating properly, Robin booted it up and spent the rest of the night searching through all the information that he could find. He started by searching for what had happened to the Titans, but strangely found nothing mentioning them at all. He kept coming up with results relating to the Justice League, not at all helpful.

It was by pure chance when he stumbled across the article that started him on the correct path the following morning. It was an article about how Batman and Robin had once again put the Joker behind bars. Robin had thought nothing of it until he had seen the picture on the article. The Robin standing next to Batmen looked nothing like the Robin searching for answers on the abandoned laptop.

He didn't have any green in his costume and he looked to be much younger. Several searches later revealed that the unknown Robin had always looked like this and had only been around for about a year. Robin found that the younger Robin had never gone solo and nothing he saw gave any mention of him falling out with Batman.

"This doesn't add up," Robin muttered as he checked the wires connecting the laptop to the generator. "It's not an imposter. The Titans would still be in the news if it was, so what am I missing?"

He closed the computer and folded his hands together, his chin resting on them, thinking. The fact there wasn't a single article on the the Titans and instead of him, there was another Robin that had never left Batman's side. This didn't make sense.

"What's going on here? It's like everything with the Titans had never happened," Robin muttered, thinking out loud. His eyes narrowed as a particular thought crossed his mind. "Maybe they didn't. Maybe… this place isn't home."

Brain's device must of sent him and Raven to some other timeline… or universe. That would explain it. Robin grinned, knowing that he had finally figured it out. "Well, that's one black hole theory answered."

He booted the laptop back up and began a new search. If this was a parallel universe or whatever this was, he wanted to know everything there was to know about it. His searches found that some villains he was familiar with had never existed and some that he didn't know about caused trouble on a regular basis. Robin found out that there had been no mention of the other Titans, though he did find some of the Honorary Titans. Speedy was still Green Arrow's partner. Kid Flash was still with the Flash. Aqualad was still with Aquaman. The only weird part was that Aqualad wasn't Garth, but some dark-skinned teen.

For the next few days Robin divided his time between caring for Raven and going out for supplies that he needed for his new costume. After extensive research on the laptop-generator combination, Robin had found neither hide nor hare of anything relating to his Red X persona, and had decided to once again take it up. If there really was another Robin, then he couldn't walk around as himself. Two Robins would just create problems he didn't need, and cause other heroes to ask questions he didn't want to answer, so it would be better if he just avoided it all together. Might as well use Red X, an alias he knew well. Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty when he thought of the lies that came with Red X and his previous actions. By the end of the second day he had everything he needed for his new identity, except a Xenothium core. It was on that day that Raven finally woke up.

She sat up from the stained yellow mattress that Robin had found in a back alley and looked around. Her immediate reaction was fear as she realized that she was in Slade's old hideout. She flew up, searching for the one-eyed villain. Without even realizing it, she condensed her power around her hands, ready to blast the first sign of Slade she saw.

"Whoa, Raven, calm down!" Robin said from behind her. In reflex at the sound, she whirled in the air and shot a stream of shadow-like magic at him. It was only a flip backwards that saved Robin from losing his head.

"Robin?" Raven asked as she floated to the floor.

"It's me, though I won't be Robin for much longer," he said as he stepped up towards the demoness.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come with me. I'll show you," he said as he walked to the stairs of the former villain's base.

Raven followed him up the stairs and into the main floor of the factory and to a small room in the back. Robin had laid out several changes of civilian clothes, along with a small, walled off area to change in. Raven looked at the boy and saw that he was already picking out a pair of dark grey jeans, a red sweatshirt, and a pair of black tennis shoes from the pile of clothes he had set out for himself.

"Trust me, it'll be better if we're not heroes when we walk out the door," Robin said when he saw her practically glaring at the pile of clothes he had set out.

Raven sighed and grabbed a purple hooded sweatshirt, a pair of blue jeans and grey tennis shoes, wondering where he got them from. She went into the section Robin had set up and quickly changed out of her current attire. It was only then that she realised just how shredded her outfit was, like somebody had taken hundreds of knives to it. When she walked out Robin was in his selected clothing. She wasn't really interested in that, however, because it was the first time Raven had ever seen her leader without his mask on. The first time that his cold blue eyes were visible to her. With those he could definitely give Batman a run for his money in the intimidation department.

He had a small panel open with his folded, multi-colored costume carefully placed inside the opening. He gestured for Raven to do the same with her costume and she did so, knowing that if anyone got in here they did not want the intruders to find their uniforms. Robin slid the panel back in place and walked away from the hidden compartment.

"You've been busy," Raven noted dully. Robin shrugged and turned towards the door.

"Come on, I'll explain everything that's happened as we walk around town," Robin said, walking out of the room. "There are some thing you need to know."

"What things?" Raven asked, continuing to use her trademark stoic tone.

Robin didn't respond and instead walked out of the building with Raven following close behind. They stepped out into the light of mid morning and briskly walked to the main street of Jump City. Almost immediately Raven recognized the city that was their home. The only thing that stopped her from questioning Robin about why they weren't at the Tower-a question that had been bugging her ever since she had woken up-was the fact that the energy of the place felt… wrong, somehow.

"I'll cut to the chase: we're not in the Jump City that we know," Robin said as he walked, never looking to see if she was following or not. "The Titans have never existed and as far as I can tell most of its members either never existed or never became heroes." Raven turned her head and looked at the city she had once known as she listened to Robin explain their situation.

"So what members do exist?" Raven asked as she followed Robin onto a tightly packed street that was crowded with people.

"Cyborg is a star athlete and is currently living in Metropolis, but the accident that made him need the cybernetic implants never happened. I couldn't find anything about Beast Boy or Starfire," Robin explained as he dodged people on the sidewalk.

"Anything else?" Raven asked.

"I found a few of the Honorary Titans, but they haven't gone solo yet," Robin replied as he lead her through the streets, towards the beach front. "There's also a Robin here and again he hasn't gone solo but that means I can't keep using the Robin alias for myself. I've been setting up a new version of the Red X costume."

"Wait, what did you say?" Raven asked.

"I know, I don't like it, either," Robin said. "But at this point, we don't have a choice. We need to figure out what's going on without bringing attention to ourselves."

"And how is Red X going to accomplish that?" Raved said, her tone annoyed.

"I created Red X. I know him better than anyone. Red X hides in the shadows, away from the spotlight. There's no one better," Robin argued

Raven looked like she wanted to argue further, but decided to be silent, understanding Robin's point. By then they were finally at the harbor where the tiny island sat and Raven saw the resort that sat where the Tower should have been.

"So now we have a choice," Robin said. "I've already made it, so it's your turn. This town could use just as much cleaning up, if not more, than when we were Titans. So you can either leave this city, or not, and do what you want to do for the rest of your life. Or we go back to doing what we're good at and clean up this city," Raven nodded. It wasn't really a plan but it would do.

"What would we be, if not heroes?" she replied sarcastically. Robin smirked lightly and held out his hand.

"Welcome back to the Teen Titans, Raven," he said once she took it.


	2. Fate or Chance?

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever on FanFiction.net for beta-ing this for me.

A/N2: To all of you who care, I'll be changing some of the personalities of the characters. The main one for this chapter is I'm going to change Young Justice Deathstroke into someone more akin to Arrow Deathstroke, in mannerisms and speech patterns at least.

Chapter Two

Fate or Chance?

-

June 25: 23:00 PDT

It was quiet in Jump City that night. Robin, now in his Red X suit, and Raven were making their way through the city and had yet to find any serious crimes in progress. A few thieves breaking into a jewelry store, who were now tied up with a fence, and a group of muggers who were unconscious in a back alley. Raven flew along the rooftops as Red X ran underneath her, listening for anything unusual, stopping now and then to look for something.

"What are you expecting to find?" Raven asked after their fifth stop on the rooftops.

"I don't know," Red X replied, his voice normal without the mechanisms activated to distort it. "I just feel like something is going down tonight... and it's important."

It was end of their first week as the heroes of Jump City. Raven hadn't been able to salvage much of her old uniform and had fashioned a new one. It was a dark grey cloak that hid most of her face in shadows, but not as effectively as her old cloak did. It was clasped together by the same gem like pin that had held her previous cloak together. Some of her gems disappeared when she had crossed over to this Earth, so she had taken a golden bird-like emblem to keep the gems in place around her waist. Her gloves were fine so she kept those, but her main suit was far too torn to be of any use. She had asked Red X to get her something else and he had returned with a shirt much like the one she had originally had, only it was purple instead of black and had no sleeves. He had also returned with a pair light purple pants that went down to her ankle. How he knew what size she was Raven would never know and honestly would probably never ask. Red X was good at knowing things about his team and their powers that wasn't strictly necessary.

Speaking of Red X, his new costume had changed a little as well. It was less theatrical than the original, with the cape only coming to his knees instead of his ankles. The pouches on the utility belt were less compact than the original ones, but they would suffice. It held what he needed it to. Other than that it was practically the same costume the he had used to try to trick Slade.

They continued on their patrol with nothing eventful happening. They were just about to head in for the night when they heard a woman's cry. The two heroes ran over towards the source of the noise. They saw a woman in her mid-twenties surrounded by four thugs with different weapons in their hands in the entrance of an alley. There was a heavy-set man with a four foot pipe wrench and a thin man with a knife as long as his forearm. Where did these guys get these things? The other two men were average build, one holding a piece of a pipe and the other wearing a pair of brass knuckles.

"Give us your purse, girly," the thin one said, brandishing his knife.

The woman threw her purse away from her and backed further into the alley, looking like a frightened animal. Knuckles and Pipe-Holder grinned and started rummaging through her purse. It was at this point when Red X dropped from the rooftops.

"It's not nice to assault a lady this late at night," he said, narrowing his eyes threateningly. "Or better yet, not at all."

"Who're you supposed to be?" Pipe-Wrench asked, turning from the woman. The thin man looked at Red X and grinned wider, like he was anticipating beating up the young man.

"I'm the last thing you're going to see tonight," Red X said before springing at Pipe-Holder.

He swung a punch at the thug's head. When it connected the man staggered back and automatically put a hand to his head. Red X ignored him for the moment and flipped over Thin-Man who was charging at him with his knife raised high. The flip pushed Red X over the man's back where the hero could easily take him out. Red X landed and sent a kick into his victim's back, sending the knife user sprawling. As the man started to get up, Raven joined the fight. She flew down and stood off to the side of the alley, raising her hands as she started taking out the thugs. She possessed the knife the thin man had used, along with the man's coat and brought them onto the building wall with the knife holding the man a foot off of the ground by his sturdy leather jacket.

Red X ran and leapt into the air, kicking Pipe-Wrench in the face as he passed. The large thug acted like a smaller version of Cinderblock and fell backwards slowly. Red X landed and turned to face the large man. Pipe-Wrench got up and swung at the darkly clad teen with his weapon. Red X rolled into a handstand and pushed off, landing on Pipe-Wrench's shoulders and staying there. The skull-faced teen smirked under his mask and grabbed the man's ears.

He then tugged on them, making the heavy man jerk around and run into Knuckles, who had been sneaking around towards Raven, who in turn had been dealing with Pipe-Holder. Knuckles went sprawling and landed with his feet comically in the air. Red X planted a low power, explosive X on Pipe-Wrench's back and flipped off. The X exploded with just enough force to slam the man's face into the concrete, knocking him out.

Raven was dealing with Pipe-Holder, or more aptly, messing around with him. It was hard for the man to swing his pipe when his clothes kept resisting and forcing his arms to twist painfully or sharply. When she saw that the fight was over, she wrapped his pipe around his arms and a shorter pipe around his legs.

"Thank you," the woman said as Red X handed her purse back to her. "I cannot thank you enough."

"It's no trouble," Red X said as he waved her off. He then jumped up and scaled the building returning to the rooftops where Raven waited for him. "Let's go."

Raven nodded and the two heroes returned to the broken factory they called home, for the time being at least.

-

June 26: 03:35 PDT

"I'm just not sure where we would find any," Red X said to Raven as they stared at the laptop screen.

They were back in the factory's basement and were in regular clothes. They had managed to improve the room slightly but not enough to get rid of the ever constant reminders of Slade.

"What about S.T.A.R. labs?" Raven asked, not really caring about what Red X was searching for. "Would they have anything?"

"Probably not. Even if they did, would they really just give Xenothium, a highly dangerous and unstable compound, to two random kids? The answer to that is 'no' by the way. It wasn't even legal for me to buy it," Red X scrolled through the page he was currently on, looking through the Internet for any hint or clue of the rare component.

"So that's no good. What else do you need?" Raven said, walking away from the computer. Red X shrugged though he knew she couldn't see him."How're we going to get home?" Red X didn't look up from his searching but his eyes did narrow and he frowned slightly.

"I don't know," Red X sighed "There's no way to get Brain's blueprints now that we're here. The only way I can think of is finding someone who would believe us and had the technology to send us back."

"So who would have any to do that?" Raven asked monotonously.

"The Brain, Batman, Lex Luthor, take your pick. Either way it's not going to turn out well," Red X said. "We'd get manipulated or worse."

"Well, that's helpful," Raven drawled sarcastically.

"What do you want from me?" Red X asked with annoyance, his eyebrow ticking slightly before he sighed once more. "Let's just go to sleep. It never helps anyone to be fighting this early in the morning."

The former Titan shutdown the computer and the two heroes went to the smelly mattresses that they slept on.

-

June 26: 12:30 EST

The helicopter touched down on the tall building, its rotors slowly coming to a stop. A young teenage girl with light blond hair and wearing a navy blue leather jacket and light tan cargo pants stepped out of the chopper and over to a man in orange and black body armor.

"Welcome," the man said in a raspy voice and slight australian accent, "to The Light."

The girl nodded and the two walked towards an elevator that was off to the side. As the two entered the elevator the man shifted his weight to where he stood at parade rest.

"We've been assigned to security detail at Cadmus. Are you up for it, kid?" the man asked, not looking at the girl.

"Yeah, I'm up for it," she replied as the elevator took them down to the man's office.

June 28: 23:01 PDT

Raven flew over the old museum, where Red X had been told the auction was by five different thugs. It looked normal, like there was nothing out of the ordinary going on inside. Of course, if Raven was planning on hosting a secret auction of secret and illegal items she would want it to be as inconspicuous as possible. They had only found the deal was happening because they had overheard a couple of thugs practically yelling about it in an alley. Now it was about to be broken up.

Red X was scaling the building and looking for a good entry point, while Raven was supposed to get in undetected however she saw fit. It was rather easy to get in. She simply sensed where the fewest amount of people were and soul-shifted through the closest wall. She stood in the back and hid in the shadows while she looked over the assembled crowd.

Red X was right about them never encountering some of these guys. Half of these villains Raven didn't recognize and those that were, were not as she remembered them. There was the Brain and Monsieur Mallah in one corner but they were different in subtle ways. Raven looked over the crowd some more and saw several people she didn't recognize. A man wearing farmer's overalls, a straw hat and a cloth sack over his face with glowing red eyes. Another wearing a mixture of thin, blue football gear and grey hockey plates along his left arm and over his face. A man in his early thirties with greying brown hair that was tied back and wearing a white lab coat and black jeans. A little grey creature was sitting on his shoulder.

"Let this meeting come to order," a cloaked man said from a podium. "Our first item today is a rare hypersonic frequency generator. This fine piece of equipment is capable of emitting a sonic blast so high that it can destroy whatever you desire."

The man was handed a small remote-like device. A marble statue was wheeled in as well. The cloaked figure pressed a few buttons on the remote and pointed it at the statue. Within seconds the statue crumbled and was dust on the floor.

"I'll start the bidding at one thousand dollars," the auctioneer said. Several shouts went up as well as hands with bundles of money.

"Two thousand!" someone shouted.

"Ten!" shouted another.

Several more shouts went up into the air. Twenty thousand. One hundred thousand. It was finally sold at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and Raven hadn't gotten any sign from Red X to stop the auction. She sent out her power, looking for her teammate. She finally found him searching through the stolen items that were for sale that evening.

_Robin, what are you doing?_ Raven hissed in his mind.

_I'm looking,_ he replied. _Some of this stuff could be useful. Hold on a second._

_This isn't the time,_ Raven argued, no longer paying attention to the auction before her. _You can look after we stop this._

_Raven, they've got several tubes of Xenothium here,_ Red X thought to Raven. _And it's practically rigged to blow._ Raven raised her eyebrows. This was lucky, or unlucky depending on how you looked at it. They still hadn't found anything close enough to act as a power unit for Red X's suit.

_Fine. See if you can get them out safely,_ she said. _After that, we wrap up this operation._

_Fine by me. I'll warn you if the charges are activated,_ Red X said over their connection before focusing wholeheartedly on safely getting the Xenothium out.

Raven turned her attention back towards the auction where the cloaked man was selling some sort of freeze ray core. It went off at one hundred thousand to a man called Polar. What were they doing, pulling random words out of a hat these days? Two more sales took place before Red X contacted her saying that the explosives were disabled.

_Time to go to work,_ Raven thought as she cut the connection.

Immediately the room was filled with thick grey smoke from Red X's pellets, now configured to match his persona. The villains started scrambling to get to the door. A couple of them screaming out that Batman was there. Raven took the opportunity of the smoke screen to whack several upside the head with a nightstick that was laying next to the sleeping security guard, knocked out by the villains.

Red X jumped from person to person, taking them out as quickly as he would a group of Slade-bots. A jump there, a kick there, and the villains were dropping like flies. As he landed from the flip that put down his tenth victim, he encountered the man wearing the sports gear.

"Who are you supposed to be?" the man asked as he leveled a javelin at the former Robin. "Skull Boy? Death Kid? Come on, I got to be close."

"The name's Red X," he replied shifting his weight back. "And you're going down."

The man in blue came at Red X, charging like medieval infantry. Red X flipped over him and planted an Explosive X on his back. It was roughly the same trick he had pulled with the thugs the other night. The X exploded and had the desired effect, except the man rolled with the force and came up standing. He whirled around, slinging a discus with a small blinking green light on it as he did so. The small black disk exploded and sent Red X flying onto his back.

"You're not the only one who likes to play with fire, kid," the man said as he advanced on the grey clad hero. "But if you play with fire, you have to be prepared to be burned."

Red X pushed himself to his feet, his costume holding up rather well with no sign of impact other than slight scorching. He ran at the tall man and sent a flying kick at his face. The man reacted exactly how Slade would have. He leaned to the side then caught the boy's arm as he flew past and slung him into the wall.

"Come on kid, give me a challenge," the man taunted as Red X fell to the floor.

Raven looked around after knocking out Polar with the nightstick and saw Red X as he flew into the wall. She let go of the stick and flew over to her comrade. She picked him up by his arms and flew through the nearest window, grabbing ten tubes of Xenothium with her power and having them fly behind her through the window and onto a nearby roof.

"Thanks for the workout, kiddies," the man muttered as he watched the hooded girl carry Red X out of the window. "Next time we'll have even more fun."

Raven collapsed on the roof and laid there for a minute, watching to make sure the blue-clad man didn't follow them. He didn't and all Raven heard were the sounds of sirens in the distance. She stacked the Xenothium tubes carefully onto each other and raised them as she got up from where she lay. She grabbed Red X again and started to fly towards the factory, stopping every now and then to rest her arms.

When she was about five blocks away from the factory she landed for the last time that evening and set the vials and Red X down carefully. The boy was fine, he was just a little bruised and stiff at the moment. In other words if he ran across the rooftops right now it would slow them down. She sat down on the roof and stared out at the city that was her home. Red X stiffened behind her and slowly got up into a defensive position.

"It's a nice night for a little theft, don't you agree?" a light voice called from behind her.

Raven flew up and whirled around, seeing no one. She condensed her power around her hands and sent it out with her mind. She felt two presences, one was cheerful and mischievous right in front of her in the shadows. The other was grim and brooding, right behind her.

"Give back what you stole and maybe we'll let you off the hook," a deep, gravelly voice said from behind the girl.

"We haven't stolen anything," Red X said, the pain in his voice masking it enough for the time being.

A man in grey and black light, multi-layered kevlar like armor stepped out of the shadows in front of Red X while a young boy in similar red armor stepped out in front of Raven. The famed dynamic duo had put their heads together and, as usual, come to the wrong conclusion, in Red X's opinion.

"We didn't steal this from anyone except a group of villains trying to buy it," Raven said.

"You may have, but they're not yours," Batman said. "Now hand them over or be branded criminals for the entire Justice League to hunt down." Robin laughed.

"Either way, we'll have those vials, thanks," Robin said, smirking.

_I have a smoke pellet I can use,_ Red X said through the mental connection that Raven had created as soon as the boy had stiffened. _But it won't work on them for longer than a minute. Max._

_I'm ready,_ Raven said.

Red X threw down the pellet and Raven wrapped them both in a sphere of her magic as soon as the cloud of smoke covered them and flew them in a roundabout way to the factory. When the cloud appeared, both Batman and Robin sprang into action to catch the two. The two switched to thermal vision in their masks but they had came up empty-handed and could find no trace of how the two young "villains" had escaped.

Upon their return, Batman searched for the origins of his new adversaries. He only found scant rumors of a kid in a skull mask with a blood-red X on his chest attacking people in Jump City and leaving a trail of broken bodies in his wake. Batman could find no mention of the hooded girl who seamed to be his accomplice, and that bothered him greatly. It was even more disturbing that they now had enough Xenothium to demolish several cities at once. This could get out hand very quickly. The League should have payed more attention to the remote coastal city it seems.

-

June 28: 00:37 PDT

Raven walked quickly into the basement with Red X on her heels. He quickly took off his suit and changed into his civilian attire. He then set the suit on his desk and began working on implementing the Xenothium safely throughout the suit. When he had gotten the wires to match up correctly, he sent a small dose of Xenothium through the suit and tested its functionality. He failed the first couple times but he kept trying until he was satisfied that the suit would function without killing him. Once that was done, he set down the suit and turned to his partner. She was asleep by then as Red X had been working for several hours. Red X sighed and went to his own mattress and slept.

-

June 30: 10:32 EST

"Again!" the man in orange and black armor yelled at the girl.

She was wearing clothing more suited for agility: a black long sleeve t-shirt that came to her belly button with a yellow line going across her chest at an angle. Over that she wore the same black, short-sleeved leather jacket that she had worn when she first arrived at the man's company. She wore a pair of brown leather gloves that were rolled up at the wrists. She also wore a pair of tan, safari style cargo shorts with a brown belt hanging loosely from her right hip. She wore a pair of tan knee-pads and a pair of dark brown, knee-high leather boots that strapped tightly across the top of her feet.

She was currently going through an obstacle course that had nearly killed her several times. She had spent most of the morning running the course over and over. Every time the man in armor had yelled at her to do it again faster and harder in his raspy voice.

She flew through a gate on a boulder that was the size of a small car and dodged machine gun fire that was directed at her from automated turrets. She raised her hand as her eyes flashed gold and a wall of rocks rose to block a small missile that was headed for her. She flew through another gate and raised her hands once more. Rocks the size of golfballs rose around her and shot outward into turrets that were aiming at her, causing them to explode. She crossed through the final gate and dissolved her boulder in front of the man in armor.

"So how was that?" Terra Markov asked Deathstroke eagerly.

"That was good, kid," Deathstroke praised, turning away from the training course. "Now let's go-Cadmus won't wait forever."

He turned and headed for the helicopter that was resting behind them. Terra followed him and climbed in after him. The helicopter started up and took to the skies, heading for the genetics lab in Washington DC.


	3. The Day

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, on FanFiction.net for beta-ing this for me.

Chapter Three

The Day

-

July 4: 12:00 EDT

It was a peaceful day in the city of Gotham. People were enjoying the day and having barbeques in the park. John Kane flipped burgers on his portable grill by a small ledge that was used as a nice ski jump in the winter. As John thought about the fun his children had on the ledge and flipped one of the burgers, he heard a scream. He looked up from the grill to see people running from a blue cloud that was heading towards him and his family steadily. He dropped his spatula and stared as a bright blue beam, surrounded by the blue cloud, hit a screaming woman, freezing her solid. The ray continued on and froze several more people. John grabbed his children's' arms and ran for his life. Mr. Freeze saw this from his spot on the top of the ledge and froze them solid as well.

"Enjoying family time, sir?" he asked coldly. "Too bad I have other plans."

He jumped down and kicked the ice statue that was John and his family away. He leveled his freeze gun at more fleeing civilians. As he was about to fire, a black batarang hit his gun, causing it to shoot up into the sky. Mr. Freeze glared at the gun, as if it was the reason he had missed.

"Batman," he growled, his freezer-like armor distorting his voice mechanically. "It's about time."

He whirled around to face where the batarang came from, but saw nobody. He glanced around for the caped crusader and heard a mischievous laugh. Mr. Freeze scowled, that laugh could only mean one thing: Robin was here. Mr. Freeze turned around, looking for either one of the dynamic duo, only to have Robin land on his dome-like helmet, staggering the ice villain.

Robin flipped off of the dome, which sent Mr. Freeze sprawling, and landed a few feet away. He grabbed two red disks and threw them at the dome that protected Mr. Freeze from the outside world, cracking it slightly.

"Ah, so you strike first," Freeze growled as he picked himself off the ground. "Frankly I'm underwhelmed."

"Great," Robin replied, "but let's hurry up. We're on a tight schedule."

"Then I won't keep you long," Freeze smirked as he leveled his minigun-sized freeze ray at the Boy Wonder.

"Wasn't talking to you, Freeze," Robin sighed.

Freeze realized his error and turned around, just in time for Batman to slam his fist into the cracked dome. The glass shattered and exposed Freeze to the heat of summer. Freeze gasped in pain and shock, dropping his freeze ray. He placed his hand over his suit and started to blast himself with icy waves to keep himself alive.

"Great, we've stopped Freeze. Now let's go. Today is the day!" Robin said excitedly after Batman had secured Freeze in a position that wouldn't compromise his ability to keep himself alive.

-

July 4: 09:01 PDT

On the freeway of Star City, cars passed each other as they sped to wherever they were headed. As it was mid morning, it was easy for one to assume where they were going. Icicle Jr. jumped down from an overpass and onto the freeway, generating a circle of ice around him, a yard in diameter. He pressed his fingertips onto the sheet of ice then shot his hands into the air, creating a ramp that sent a car right behind him flying up into the air. The car crashed onto its side and skidded to a halt. Two more cars followed the first and the ice villain laughed hysterically.

Just then five arrows imbedded themselves into the ice ramp and another went into Icicle's arm. He stopped laughing to stare at the beeping arrows. The one on his arm exploded, quickly followed by the others. Icicle was tossed around like a ragdoll from the explosions and crashed onto the ground, his ramp destroyed. Clutching his head, he got up and looked at where the arrows came from. Ever the drama king, Green Arrow balanced on the guardrail, with Speedy standing on the pavement beside him. Both had their bows at the ready and pointed at Jr.

"Finally!" Icicle laughed. "I was beginning to wonder how many freeways I had to crash to get your attention!"

The archers released their shots at the ice covered villain, and drew once more.

"He's doing this for attention?" Speedy asked, incredulous. "I'm telling you now, if this interferes I am personally going to kick your ass."

"Not now, Speedy," Green arrow replied as Icicle threw foot-long shards of ice at them.

The heroes jumped down from their spot and fired at Junior again, running towards him as they did. Icicle crossed his arms in an X like formation, generating two streams of ice that blocked the arrows. Speedy's red-fletched arrow exploded, blowing a hole through the ice. Icicle snarled and threw several large spikes of ice at Speedy. Speedy kept running and flipped over the spikes, drawing and firing an arrow at Icicle before he landed. The arrow hit Junior straight in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Arrow kneeled down and secured Icicle with a Rope-Arrow, chuckling as he did so.

"The kid had a glass jaw," the emerald archer laughed.

"Hilarious. Now can we go? Or do you need to crack another bad joke?" Speedy growled to his mentor. "Need I remind you that today is the day?"

-

July 4: 06:02 HST

Pearl Harbor, normally a picturesque view of summer on the beach this time of year, was experiencing snow. Old and modern navy boats were frozen in place, where they had previously bobbed lazily in the ocean, and had sharp icicles jutting out and off of them. Killer Frost stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Arizona, holding her hands to the sky, making more snowfall. Suddenly, a whip made of glowing water wrapped around her wrist and jerked her arm down. Frost whirled around to face her attacker and saw two heroes.

Aquaman and Aqualad, stood on top of the bridge of the ship, looking regal and intimidating at the same time. Killer Frost smirked and shot ice beams from her palm, aiming at the King of Atlantis. Aquaman jumped from his spot and landed on one of the massive guns that adorned the ship. Frost shot more ice, causing him to leap to the side and land on the deck of the ship. The king ran at the ice witch, only to get everything but his head frozen in place by her ice beams.

Aqualad jumped over his king and powered up his Water-Bearers and formed them into twin spiked maces, his eal-like tattoos glowing bright blue as he did so. He ran at Frost and raised his weapons to strike.

"Don't tell me you're not excited," Aquaman said as he broke his way from the ice.

"Right now, my king, I am more focused on the task at hand," Aqualad replied as he dodged one of Frost's ice beams.

Aquaman followed his apprentice and dodged the beams. When Aqualad got within striking distance he jumped into the air and brought his weapons down on Frost. She froze his weapons solid and backed up a step, out of danger from his overhead strike. Aqualad glared at her as his landed and rushed forward quickly, swinging his weapons into her exposed chin. The frozen water shattered on impact, sending ice flying. Frost flew a half foot into the air then landed with a grunt, unconscious. Aquaman crossed his arms and smiled at his partner as Aqualad sheathed his weapons back into the holders on his back, his tattoos no longer glowing.

"Well?" the king asked.

"Yes, I am excited," Aqualad replied. "Today is the day."

-

July 4: 11:03 CDT

Central City was normally known as one of the best cities to live in. Today was not one of those days. Captain Cold and Heat Wave were robbing a jewelry store, Cold taking a unmeltable ice crystal and Heat wave taking everything else. Wave was breaking glass left and right, stuffing rings and diamonds into a black bag in his hand.

Heat wave wore a suit much like the Flash's except instead of red, it was white and instead of a lightning bolt on his chest, he had a yellow gas tank strapped to his back. He had his heat gun hooked to the tank. As he was about to tighten the drawstring on the bag he felt a slight wind across his face, saw a red blur fly past his vision, and felt the bag ripped from his hand. He turned around and saw the Flash and Kid Flash.

"Well, if it ain't the Scarlet Speedster and his brat," Wave snarled as he grabbed his heat gun.

"Not now, Mick," Cold muttered as he aimed his pistol sized cold gun at Flash.

Flash ran to the right and Kid Flash ran to the left. They started running circles around the two rogues. Cold fired at the red blur while Heat Wave fired at the predominately yellow blur that ran in the opposite direction. Cold fired and hit a car, as Flash had slowed down a little so the beam wouldn't hit him. Heat Wave fired at the same location two seconds later, melting the ice and causing the car to explode.

"Stealing ice, really?" Flash sighed as he ran in circles. "It's just sad how unoriginal these villains have become."

"Come on," Kid Flash complained as he ran past Heat Wave. "We don't have time for this! We're going to be late!"

He then veered from his path and ran straight at the two villains. Cold and Wave both saw this and fired at him. He dropped down and slid beneath their blasts, springing up at the last second and stealing Cold's gun, spinning his legs to trip Wave in the process. Wave landed flat on his back while cold stared at his empty hand.

The two villains growled almost simultaneously. They were silenced when Flash's red blur streaked past them, socking them both in the jaw. Cold spun around and landed on his back, unconscious. Heat Wave got his head slammed sharply against the pavement, and he was out like Cold instantly.

"Calm down, kid," Flash admonished, admiring his work.

"Oh, puh-lease," Kid Flash scowled. "You'll make damn sure we'll get there late. You'll chat it up with the cops, the press, everyone! No! not today!" He stopped his rant to grin broadly "Today is the day! Now let's go!"

 -

July 4: 13:36 PDT

Jump City had been quiet that day, and Red X had hoped that it would stay that way. His suit had functioned perfectly these last four days and he was pleased with the results. He had most of his powers from his old suit and had lost none of his mobility with all the wires that clung in between the suit's dual layered design. He had not been able to recreate the systems that sent out electric beams or the X-portal. He had instead added a shock gauntlet system to have the same effect as the beams, just at closer range. Every other function worked as well as he could hope with the materials at hand.

He and Raven were doing their first patrol during daylight and had hoped that nothing out of the ordinary would happen. Unfortunately for them, fate was not kind to them. They quickly encountered a guy in purple spandex who was waving his hands over the beach resort where Titan's Tower used to sit, freezing the place solid.

"Raven, let's go!" Red X growled in his distorted voice, still attached to that particular lot of land.

The demoness nodded and flew faster towards the little island, which currently only housed frightened civilians. Red X jumped from the building he had been running on and and activated his low range teleporter. Raven across the stretch of water and landed behind the man. as she landed Red X phased into existence beside her, his fists at the ready.

He was a man in his mid-twenties with white hair and light blue eyes. He wore a purple spandex suit with a twin icicle on his chest that seemed to glow when he used his powers. from his hands streams of solid ice shot out. he turned around to look at them and smirked.

"So the two new heroes finally meet me," the boy laughed. "About time. I am the incredible, the amazing-" His speech was cut off by Red X throwing an X-shaped shuriken at his face. The man was knocked onto his back.

"I never was one for long speeches," Red X said as he held two more Xs at the ready.

"Stay down," Raven said, narrowing her eyes at him and condensing her power around her hands. The man growled and pushed himself to his feet.

"Never. No one beats Winter's Chill," he snarled.

"Is that the best you could come up with?" Red X asked as he jumped into action.

He threw his two Xs at Chill as he jumped into the air. Chill shot icicles at the shuriken then he generated ice blades in his hands, his face contorted into a vicious snarl. He crouched down with his ice blades pointed at the ready. While in the air Red X activated his shock function and sent a punch at the new villain. Chill dodged and retaliated, swinging his blades at X, who was in front of him.. Raven raised her arms and opened her hands wide.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she said before hurling bolts of black energy at Chill.

Chill jumped backwards using his blades to block the bolts. He landed and looked to his blades. They were nothing more than ice stumps. Chill threw his weapons away and shot ice at Raven. She waved her hands in front of her, forming a shield that blocked the ice. Red X drew out his collapsible bo staff and swung at Chill. Chill generated a shield of ice and blocked the staff. Raven took control of the shield and turned it against it's owner. The shield raised itself and whacked Chill upside the head two times before it shattered. Chill, who was not expecting this, could not react and was unconscious after the second hit. Red X tied him up with a Constrictive X and left him at the police station. An hour later they were walking back into their "lair."

"Not bad for our first day-run," he said as they entered the basement.

"No, it wasn't," Raven replied as Red X took of his mask and booted up the laptop, as was his habit nowadays.

Red X had been searching for something to get them home. And would spend at least two hours on the computer looking for any clue that would be worth looking into, occasionally drawing Raven over and pointing things out that might be of interest. This normally started as soon as they got back from a patrol. This time, he looked for an hour before sitting up straight and staring intensely at the screen.

"Raven, look at this," he said, scrolling through the page.

Raven got up from her spot on the floor, marking her place in her book and setting it down as she did so. She had gotten several books from the local library over the last few days. Whether the librarians knew she had taken them was another matter entirely, but she usually returned them within a day or two. Sometimes the books were in better condition than they were in when she took them. She walked over to Red X and looked over his shoulder.

"Cadmus genetics lab," she read out loud. "Based in Washington D.C., founded by Lex Luthor himself and other like minded individuals, this facility strives for the next level of human greatness. So? What about it?"

"Nothing obvious, at first, but if you keep reading some things don't add up," Red X replied, scrolling down the page and pointing at a paragraph. "It says here that the facility has state of the art security, even a closed circuit computer system. But why would a simple genetics lab need that sort of thing? It's the little stuff that most people miss that give it away."

"So how does that help us?" Raven asked

"Anything this secretive must have something of value to us," Red X replied, smirking. Raven nodded flipped up her hood.

"Let's go."

-

July 4: 14:00 EDT

Outside the Hall of Justice, Robin, Speedy, Aqualad and their mentors stood admiring the majestic white building. Batman laid his hand on Robin's shoulder and looked at the boy kindly.

"Today is the day," Batman said.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow said.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman finished.

"Ah, man!" Kid flash complained as he and Flash sped up to the others. "I knew we'd be late."

Flash just smirked at his nephew and shook his head. The heroes then made their way around the pond that sat in front of the hall and walked towards the door. Tons of people had gathered around the entrance, straining to see the sidekicks as they took the first step to becoming members of the League.

"Is that Batman?" one person asked as they all started to take pictures and ask the heroes questions or questions about the heroes.

"I see Flash and Flash Jr.," a woman gushed in the front of the crowd.

"Hey, genius, it's Speedy, duh," another person said.

"No, Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick."

"Well, that makes no sense."

The heroes ignored the civilians and kept walking.

"Ready to see the Inner Sanctum?" Green Arrow asked Speedy, leaning forwards to heard over the crowd.

"I was born that way," Speedy said, giving a rare smile.

"I am glad that we are all here," Aqualad said sincerely.

"Dude, have all four sidekicks been in the same place at the same time? Ever?" Kid Flash asked

"Don't call us sidekicks!" Speedy snarled. "Not anymore."

"Sorry," Kid Flash muttered. "This is my first time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin asked as they passed through the doors.

They walked inside the Hall and looked around. The first thing that greeted them were seven, two story tall golden statues of the original Justice League. The four former sidekicks looked up at them in awe. There were several people in the entrance hall taking pictures of the event.

"Oh," Robin muttered as he stared at the statues, "maybe that's why."

They walked up to the restricted elevator specifically for the Justice League. The doors opened and the Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado stepped out. They stood before the sidekicks and Manhunter nodded to each of them in turn.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, I bid you welcome," he said in a deep voice. He turned around and led them into the elevator. Robin and Kid Flash fist bumped and they followed him. "You will now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked restaurant, and, of course, all the other areas of the building."

The elevator doors closed and they rode up a floor. Manhunter led them through the building, giving them a tour of the building. Eventually they had finished the tour and stopped in the library.

"And finally we have the library," Manhunter said as they walked into the room.

"Make yourselves at home," Flash said, gesturing to some pretty comfy looking armchairs in the middle of the room. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash flopped into the chairs and grinned at each other. Speedy stood still and glared at the adult heroes.

"There will be a debrief to the coincidence of five ice villains attaching on the same day," Batman said to the other Leaguers, ignoring the sidekicks.

"Five?" Green Arrow echoed.

"There was a fifth villain in Jump City that the police found on their doorstep. I'm wondering which one of the League dealt with him," Batman replied. He looked to the sidekicks. "We won't be long."

He lurned around and looked up. A small dull gray sphere dropped from the ceiling and scanned Batman and the other Leaguers.

"Recognised Batman: 02, Aquaman: 06, Flash: 04, Green Arrow: 08, Martian Manhunter: 07, Red Tornado: 16," the sphere said in a robotic voice. A steel door opened in the wall and the sphere flew back into its slot in the ceiling.

"That's it!?" Speedy shouted. The heroes turned to look at him in surprise. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass."

"This is nothing but a first step," Aquaman said calmly. "You've been granted access few others get."

"Oh? Is that so?" Speedy snarled, gesturing to the giant window that had people pressed against the glass, eager to see what was going on. One person snapped a picture when the Leaguers looked in his direction. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on? The result is the same."

"Roy, please, you just need to be patient," Green Arrow said, almost sadly.

"What I need is respect," Speedy snarled at the emerald archer. "You know what? Screw this!" He turned away from the Leaguers and addressed his fellow sidekicks. "How are you okay with this? They're treating us like kids. No! Worse! They're treating us like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"

Robin and the others looked at each other confused. Kid Flash raised an eyebrow at Robin, silently asking, _Do you have any idea what he's talking about?_ Robin shrugged and shook his head.

"You're joking, right?" Speedy demanded, getting more angry. "You're playing their game?! Why?! Today was supposed the be _the_ day! Step _one_ in becoming full fledged members of the League!"

"Well, yeah," Kid Flash said, confused. "But I thought step one was supposed to be a tour of the HQ. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong. Except the hall isn't even the real HQ!" Speedy explained. The sidekicks eyes widened at that. The Leaguers' eyes narrowed and they all turned to glare at Green Arrow. "What? Surprised they didn't tell you it's just a false front for tourists? And that it's nothing more than a pit stop for catching Zeta tube teleporter beams to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

"Ah, no, that wasn't the brochure," Robin said wide-eyed. Aqualad and Kid Flash nodded in agreement. Batman and Flash glared even harder at Green Arrow.

"I know, I know," he said, trying to weasel out of too much trouble. "But I thought that maybe we could make an exception?" Batman narrowed his eyes and Green Arrow's face fell. "Or not?"

"You are not helping your cause here, son," Aquaman said, stepping forward to where Speedy had to look up to look him in the eye. "Stand down. Or-"

"Or what?" Speedy interrupted. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son, I'm not even his! But I thought I was his partner." He gestured to Green Arrow as he said this and the other sidekicks could see the hurt that flickered across the senior archer's face. "Not anymore I guess."

With that, Speedy took off his yellow beret and threw it to the floor. He turned around and walked towards the exit, making a point to trod on the hat carelessly as he did so. The sidekicks stared in shock and watched him go. As he was about to walk through the door he turned back one last time and glared at the assembled mass.

"I guess they're right about you three. You're not ready," he growled and with that turned and walked out of the door.

It took a few seconds for the sidekicks to get over their shock at Speedy's actions when they did they heard the alarm go off from the terminal on the wall. Superman's face was displayed on the giant screen above the terminal.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. There's a fire and it's not going out quickly," he said.

The senior Leaguers walked over to the terminal and watched some of the data flow into the adjacent screens.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus for some time. But I've been preoccupied on another project and have had not had time to investigate. This may present the perfect opportunity to do so," Batman said, narrowing his eyes. Just then another alarm came through and an image of Zatara appeared on another screen.

"Zatara to Justice League, the sorcerer Wotan is using his recently reaquired Amulet of Atem to cover the sun! I am requesting full League response," he said. Batman looked to Superman questioningly.

"It's a small fire, not progressing very fast. It can wait for now," Superman said upon considering for a second.

"Then it's decided," Batman said, pressing a button on the console. "All Justice League rendezvous at Zatara's location. Batman out." He turned around the face the sidekicks "Stay put."

"What?!" Robin exclaimed. "We can help!"

"You're not trained-" Flash said

"Since when?" Kid Flash interrupted

"I meant you're not trained for this type of mission," Flash said, releasing his words hadn't helped him at all.

"But there will be other missions," Aquaman said cajolingly

"For now, stay put," Batman said, glaring at the teens.

The senior heroes then left the room through the still opened steel door with Green Arrow muttering something to the Martian Manhunter as they left. The sidekicks all stared at the ground. Finally Kid Flash broke the silence.

"Gah! Other missions!?" he yelled. "That's all we're ever going to get! The baby missions!" He started to pace and wave his arms around, nearly backhanding Aqualad in the process. "They're treating us like sidekicks!" Aqualad and Robin agreed but didn't join in on Kid Flash's rant.

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me," Aqualad said dejectedly.

"Trust? Trust?!" Kid flash yelled. "They down even trust us with the basics! Or didn't you hear? They've got a secret HQ in _SPACE_!" He raised his arms to make his point.

"What else are they not telling us?" Aqualad asked. Robin sighed.

"I have a better question: why didn't we leave with Speedy?" he asked. Now the other sidekicks stared at the floor.

"What is… Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked Robin.

"Hmm, I don't know," he replied before smirking mischievously. "But I can find out. Watch this."

He moved to the computer terminal that had previously held all the information of the fire on its screens and started to quickly type on the keyboard. After a few seconds he got a blinking error message.

"Access denied," the computer said in the same voice as the sphere had used.

"Wanna bet? Let's see here," Robin grinned as he continued to type on the keyboard. After two more seconds he had changed his access level to the highest there was. Kid Flash looked at the screen, his eyes widening.

"Woah, dude, how are you doing that?" he asked, completely shocked. Robin smirked and pressed three more keys.

"It's the same system as the Batcave, and I hacked that when I was ten," Robin chuckled before re-entering his password.

"Access granted," the computer said before displaying the information about Cadmus.

"Okay, Project Cadmus... genetics lab here in D.C.," Robin read. "That's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious then maybe we should investigate."

"And we solve their case before they do?" Aqualad asked, considering. "It would be poetic justice, of a kind."

"And they're all about justice," Kid Flash agreed. "Let's do it."

"But they told us to stay put." Aqualad argued.

"On the sun mission," Robin argued. "They never said anything about the Cadmus mission."

"And just like that we are a team?" Aqualad asked

"We didn't exactly come here for a playdate," Robin replied. Aqualad smirked at that and nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash asked eagerly. He lowered his goggles over his eyes, smirking. "Let's go!"

-

July 4: 14:40 EDT

Red X vowed to himself to never again ask Raven for a teleportation to anywhere. It was so dark and cold he was surprised that his fingers hadn't fallen off from frostbite. That's saying nothing of the demonic whispering that filled his hearing. But after a second or two they were across the country and staring at a building that looked like a warehouse in it's simplicity from the roof of one of the buildings across the street. Cadmus was a two story building built of white bricks that was roughly shaped like a square. Pretty much your average lab.

"So we're here, how do we get in?" Raven asked.

"I don't know," Red X replied, searching the building for entry points.

Suddenly the building's northern half exploded, glass flying everywhere. Smoke billowed out of the shattered windows and Red X heard people screaming. He narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the convenient opening.

"We need to help those people," he finally said and jumped to the ground. He ran over to the side of the building and teleported to the window where some scientists were waving their arms and yelling. They jumped slightly as Red X appeared behind them.

"Hold on," Red X said as he grabbed one on the scientists.

He jumped from the building and landed with a grunt. He set the scientist down and watched as Raven levitated the other one out of the window from the roof. She set the scientist down then generated a small, pure black, platform for Red X to ride up on. He stepped onto the disk and rode up to the shattered window. Inside, Raven appeared out of the shadows and walked to the window where Red X was stepping off the platform.

"So we're in, now what?" she asked

"Now we search for whatever isn't right about this place," Red X said, looking around the darkened room.

Raven felt a presence in her mind. It seemed curious more than anything else. It also seemed to come from below them. And whatever it was, she knew it could be a serious threat. Just what was Cadmus hiding?


	4. Into the Depths

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, for beta-ing this for me.

Chapter Four

Into the Depths

-

July 4: 14:55 EDT

Robin parked his bike a few blocks away from the pillar of smoke rising into the sky. Aqualad parked next to him and Kid Flash sped up beside them. Robin flipped off of his bike and jogged towards the smoke. The others followed the Boy Wonder and soon were looking at the building from an alley across the street. Its side was scorched but there were signs that the fire was dying down, as only a bright glow came from the upper levels. The sidekicks stared at the building as scientists gestured to the building in frustration to the firefighters on the scene. There were a couple of scientists behind a shattered window, waving their arms frantically.

"Well, they look happy," Kid Flash said sarcastically before running up the side of the building and grabbing the two scientists and running back down.

He deposited the two and turned to run back up into the building to help with the fire. Robin and Aqualad ran over to the building and began asking the firemen if they had cleared the building.

"Are you with them?" one of the rescued scientists asked after he had caught his breath. Kid Flash turned back around and looked at him, confused. Robin walked up to them and squatted down to their level. Aqualad was examining the fire's progress and watching for civilians.

"With who?" the Boy Wonder asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Some kid in a skull mask and a girl in a dark cloak saved a few scientists right after the explosion. They went inside and we haven't seen them since. I hope they're finding the others but I don't know," the scientist explained. Robin narrowed his eyes even further.

"No, we're not with them," he said venomously, "but we are here to help." He got up from his crouch and walked toward the building angrily. He shot his grapple gun out to the roof and flew up to the window.

"Hey, Flash Boy," the other scientist coughed. "The fire is dying down but there might be some people still inside."

"I'll keep an eye out," Kid Flash replied before huffing, "And it's Kid Flash. Why is that so hard?"

He sped off to the building and ran up the wall. He slipped on some of the water the firefighters had used on the building and nearly fell to the ground. He barely managed to grab the window sill and hauled himself into the room. Robin snickered at the sight then went to the window.

"We're all clear, Aqualad, there's no one here. Go for it," the Boy Wonder shouted to the Atlantean.

Aqualad nodded from his place on the ground and activated his Water-Bearers. He directed them to the hoses the firefighters were using. The weapons and his tattoos glowed bright blue.

"I need to borrow this," he said to the firefighters as he took control of the stream of water from their hoses.

He directed the water towards the fire and doused the flames that were still burning on lower levels. Within seconds the fire was out. Aqualad then directed the water to create a geyser of swirling water at his feet that allowed him to ride up the sill and step into the building.

"We will search for any stragglers or injured," Aqualad called as he released his control over the water. The firemen nodded and went to checking on the scientists that had already gotten out.

Aqualad turned to see Robin typing furiously on a computer just inside the room. He sheathed his weapons and frowned at the other red clad hero.

"What are you doing?" he asked. As Kid Flash went through some filing cabinets.

"We're here to investigate remember?" Robin replied cheerily. He continued typing on the computer smirking as he hacked his way through security. He frowned. "Scanners detect them down on Sublevel Three. But that can't be right, this is a genetics lab. The farthest below ground it should go is a single level parking garage."

"Uh, who are 'they'?" Kid Flash asked.

"A scientist described a kid in a skull mask saving his buddies," he said. "A few weeks ago, Batman and I caught him and a girl in a grey cloak stealing enough Xenothium to destroy an entire city. They got away, and now it seems they're here to steal something else."

Aqualad ignored their conversation and walked into the hall, looking for anyone that needed help. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to look at it and saw a pair of elevator doors sliding shut. He saw a sliver of something glowing red before the doors shut completely and stepped forward to get a better look.

"Robin, I would suggest you come look at this," Aqualad called out. Robin rushed over and looked at the elevator.

"What?" he asked.

"I saw the elevator doors closing," Aqualad replied.

"That's not possible, elevators would be shut down if there was a fire," Kid Flash argued. "It's standard procedure."

"Well, it was not," Aqualad said. "And what is more a saw something glowing red before the doors had closed fully."

"This is wrong," Robin muttered as he looked at the elevator. "The design of the elevator suggests that it's an express elevator. But it couldn't be in a two story building." He accessed his wrist computer and brought up an image of one of the elevators. "This is a high speed express elevator, usually meant for buildings so large that it would take hours to reach the top or bottom floor with a normal elevator. It's top of the line-best you can get."

"Let us see where this leads," Aqualad said before shoving the doors open with his bare hands.

The three sidekicks looked into the shaft and saw that it disappeared in a dark abyss. Robin's guess was that that it went down for miles entirely underground. He crouched down and glowered.

"And that's the reason they need an express elevator," he quipped before shooting his grapple gun at the ceiling. When he heard it connect to the ceiling, he jumped into the shaft, with only his line saving him from becoming a pancake at the bottom.

-

July 4: 15:15

Red X stared at the tubes in shock. They had been searching this place's subterranean levels for a half an hour now and had just found the giant electric monsters that powered the entire facility. They were like giant fireflies, except for the fact that they were literally sparking with electricity.

"This is new," Red X quipped as he walked down the aisle of tubes. Raven nodded but looked around with eyes slightly wider than normal.

"They call themselves Genomorphs," Raven said, closing her eyes and sensing their minds. "They say that they're meant to serve Cadmus." They turned down a side aisle and saw even more rows of the electric bugs.

"There's another computer," Red X said, pointing to a small vertical cylinder that stood at the end of the aisle.

They had discovered that the cylinders were an advanced form of computer, but only had information relevant to the room in which it was situated. They walked up to the cylinder. Red X pressed a small green button and keyboard slid out of the side of the computer. Raven stood back and watched his progress over his shoulder, sensing for new presences with her mind. Red X hacked his way into the computer and brought up some information of the Genomorphs.

"Ok, let's see here. Got it! These things are called G-Sprites and they can generate electricity, fly and are, obviously, bioluminescent," Red X said "There are others as well. G-Elves: deadly claws and speed-better to stay away from them. G-Gnomes: mind control and telekinesis-"

"You forgot telepathic communication, kid," a raspy voice said from behind the two heroes.

They whirled around and saw a man in body armor that was made out of multi-plated dull grey metal. He had bronze arm guards that went up to his elbow as well and leg guards that went up to his knees. He wore bronze knee pads that seemed to be made of the same metal as his armor. He had a belt with two semi-automatic pistols and various grenades clipped to it. There was a long, sheathed two-handed sword and a bo staff crisscrossing his back. His face was covered by a black and bronze mask with his right eye covered and his left eye exposed to the world. Slade.

The two heroes stared at their most dangerous enemy in silence. As they did so, a girl with blonde hair walked up beside Slade. She wore a black jacket and tan shorts. Raven narrowed her eyes at the girl. No… it couldn't be.

"Is that-" she started to ask, but was cut off by her partner.

"Terra," he muttered. "No way."

But there was something... different. This girl was taller, leaner. Instead of the smiling face the Terra they knew always wore, this Terra wore a frown, glaring at them menacingly. No, this girl was not the same Terra. The two heroes crouched down to fight but heard a door slide open behind them before they could do anything. Everyone looked at the door to see who was entering the room.

"Woah, I'm officially whelmed," Robin's voice cut through stunned silence that followed the door opening. His face contorted into a look of disgust at the sight of Red X and Raven. "Fancy meeting you two here. What are you planning to steal today? Or are you working with Deathstroke now?"

Slade pulled out one of his guns and pointed it at Raven. Red X made to attack him but Terra stepped forward, her eyes glowing gold. Raven narrowed her eyes and condensed her power around her hands.

"Don't try me," the blonde girl snarled.

"Hello, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash," Deathstroke rasped, nodding to each of them in turn while still pointing the gun at Red X. "These two are intruding-as are you, now that I think about it. I was just removing them from the premises. If you help me do that and leave with them, I won't tell the Justice League about your unsanctioned mission."

"Well, at least he got your name right," Robin muttered to Kid Flash. He raised his voice. "How do you know we're not supposed to be here?"

"You wouldn't be sneaking around if you were. You would know that if anything went wrong, you could just call in the Justice League to help," Deathstroke smirked.

"Deathstroke," Aqualad said calmly. "Why would someone like you be here? This is an off-the-grid genetics lab, no place for a skilled assassin."

"I'm head of security, kid," Slade said. "It's my job. Now, do we have a deal?"

Red X could see where things were going and activated his shock gloves. He leapt into the air and punched Terra in the head before she could react. The force of his punch and the added shock knocked her out instantly. Robin ran in front of Slade and threw a red disk at the skull-faced hero. Red X ducked under the disk and looked at the Boy Wonder.

"Easy, Chuckles," he said, standing up and avoiding a punch from Robin, who was now attacking him with everything Batman had taught him.

Aqualad activated his Water-Bearers and formed them into whips. He swung them at Raven in a variety of strikes. The demoness flew out of the way and possessed a sheet of metal from the wall and used it as a shield against the strikes that came her way. She landed back onto the ground and continued to use the shield, not attacking. Slade pulled the Bo staff off of his back and swept it under Raven's feet. The girl toppled and was soon faced with the barrel of Slade's gun.

"Surender," he hissed at her, "or I'll put a bullet through your eye."

Raven glared at the man and used her powers to possess the gun. Slade tried to fire, but Raven stopped him from pulling the trigger. The assassin let out a yell of rage at his now-useless weapon. Raven flew up and away from Slade, wrapping him in a panel from the wall. She looked at Red X to see if he needed help. He was fighting Robin and Aqualad at the moment, and actually holding his ground, but he wasn't going on the offensive much. Kid Flash was still standing in the entrance of the room, glancing between Deathstroke and Red X, obviously trying to decide who was the bigger threat. Raven was prevented from watching further as she saw Slade breaking free from his improvised prison.

Kid Flash finally came to a decision and ran at Red X. He jumped into the air and kicked the dark clad teen in the face. Red X staggered back a few steps, right into an electrified sword slash from Aqualad which was quickly followed by a punch from a grinning Robin. Red X received a cut to his arm and a punch to the chest before he clumsily performed a backwards handspring away from a kick from Kid Flash. The stunt put him flat against the wall, which gave him little room to maneuver away from the attacks of the sidekicks. Red X finally used Aqualad as a springboard. The Atlantean tried to punch him in the head, but failed as the skull-faced teenager jumped over him. The resulting flip took him over the boys' heads.

Kid Flash got ready to run at the skull-faced kid but Red X saw this and shot an adhesive X at the boy's path. The glob of X-shaped glue landed right in front of speedster as he took off and stopped him in his tracks. Red X then crouched down with X shuriken in his hands, ready for the others to make a move.

"Enough," Slade said softly into the silence that followed.

Red X turned to look at the mercenary. He saw that Slade had an unconscious Raven at his feet with his Bo staff in his hand. The heroes noticed that a few of his grenades were missing from his belt and that the man seemed to be breathing slightly harder than usual.

"Raven!" Red X gasped.

"So that's her name, eh, kid?" Slade asked menacingly. "Well then, surrender before I do more than knock her unconscious."

He pulled out his gun and pointed it once again at the demoness. Red X's eyes widened under his mask and he slowly deposited his shuriken and raised his hands above his head. Slade kept his gun pointed at Raven, but he smiled underneath his mask. Smart kid.

"Alright, fine," Red X said in apparent defeat.

"Uh, Rob, I know this guy's a thief, but we're not seriously trusting Deathstroke to keep his word, are we?" Kid Flash asked. Before Robin could respond, Aqualad stepped towards Deathstroke.

"We have kept our end of the bargain. Now please keep yours and let us leave with the intruders," he said calmly.

"Fine, take them," Deathstroke rasped as he threw Raven to the floor. "But don't come back, or you'll regret it, Aqualad. You and your people."

Aqualad nodded and picked up Raven off the floor. Kid Flash, who had finally gotten out of the glue, grabbed Red X's shoulder and steered him towards the door and the elevator shaft that they had entered the floor in. Deathstroke watched them for a second before moving to pick up an unconscious Terra from the floor.

As they passed through the door, Red X acted. He whirled around, trapping Kid Flash's arm under his own, and flipping him over his shoulder. The speedster landed with an audible "oof!" and wheezed as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Red X quickly threw down a smoke pellet and rushed to Aqualad.

"Sorry, Fishboy," he muttered as he snatched Raven from the Atlantean's arms. "But I can't let you take us in."

With Raven in his arms, Red X leaped into the elevator shaft and fell into the darkness. Red X activated his X-shaped wrist blade on his uninjured arm and dug it into the shaft wall. He grunted as he felt his arm jerk painfully as his speed gradually slowed. When he had stopped completely, the assumed villain looked at where he was. The number on the door right above him said SL52. He looked below and saw the shaft go on down for a ways. Red X managed to open the doors and haul Raven and himself into the corridor.

When he finally got them up he looked around entrance of SL52. The walls were no longer made of clean, polished metal like the upper levels of the building, but instead made up with roughly cut tunnels that looked like they were made out of some sort of organic tissue. Red X could see several opaque sacs embedded into the tunnel's walls with slender creatures suspended inside them. It was surprisingly well lit, allowing him to see a three way intersection.

"Welcome to the real Cadmus," he muttered before he quit admiring the view to tend to Raven. He set her into a sitting position and gently shook her. Her eyes shot open and her hand flew to her head.

"Get out of my head," she growled to no one in particular as a new form of Genomorph walked out of the left hand tunnel.

The Genomorph was the most human-looking of all the creatures the duo had seen thus far. It was tall and very skinny with grey skin and two foot long L-shaped horns coming out of its forehead. It had dull red eyes and pointed ears that stuck out of the side of its head. Two stiff tentacle things came out of its cheeks to where it looked like the creature had facial hair. It wore regular white clothing, so if it wasn't for the discolored skin and horns, it would have probably passed for a regular human. The Genomorph was pulling a cart full of dull green containers behind it and was starting to pass the weakened heroes when it saw them. It scowled before it raised its hand, its eyes and horns glowing bright red as it did so. Almost instantly, two of the twelve containers flew into the air and shot at the Red X and Raven.

Red X grabbed two explosive Xs and threw them at the containers. He then hauled Raven to her feet and they took off running down the tunnel that didn't have an angry Genomorph in it, neither looking back to see if the explosives hit. Raven started to fly above Red X and the two sped around a corner, hoping to find a way out that did not involve walking telekinetic science projects. As they were running, Red X saw a flash of green in the corner of his vision. He turned his head and saw a giant metal door down a side corridor that had a green light at its center. The door was slowly closing with a scientist walking away from it, writing something down on a clipboard. Red X turned ran for the door, brushing past the doctor and planting an explosive X on the panel beside the door as he passed. Raven quickly followed and phased through the closed door with Red X blowing up the control panel on their side of the door as well.

"I sure hope there's a back door through here because we're not getting out that way," he said.

"Robin, look," Raven said, forgetting to use his new name in her shock.

Red X turned around and looked at the room he had locked them in. It was much the same as the tunnel except there was a pod sitting in the middle of the room with various other equipment strung around the room almost haphazardly. The pod was black with glass panels separating it from the real world. On each of the panels were light grey letters that read 'PROJECT Kr.' Inside the pod was a teenage boy in a white one piece suit with the symbol of Superman on his chest. He was strapped to a vertical operating table with three G-Gnomes sitting in glass containers above his head. There was a computer terminal a few feet away from the pod along with a few hollow sacs on the walls.

Red X stepped up to the computer and began typing rapidly. An error message appeared on the screen and it almost shut down, but Red X overrode it using a trick Cyborg had taught him. Soon he was in the system and looking at the information of the teenager.

"It's a clone," Red X said as he read through the information. "Grown in under sixteen weeks. Wait, this can't be right. It says the primary DNA donor is Superman. But there's no way he knows about this. It says it's meant to replace Big Blue should he fall. They've even named him Superboy."

"Well, he's here. We need to escape. There's nothing we can do," Raven said monotonously, still staring at the pod. "Now we need to get out of here before something goes wrong."

As if someone had heard her statement, things went wrong almost immediately. First the door was thrown open by Aqualad, with Kid Flash and Robin behind him and all hell broke loose.

The sidekicks ran into the room and got into fighting positions. Superboy opened his eyes and punched his way out of the pod and sped into Red X. The dark clad teen was tackled to the ground but went with the momentum and kicked the clone off of him. Robin grabbed a taser from his belt and shot it at Raven. She raised a barrier to block it while also preventing a punch from Kid Flash with her arms. Aqualad joined Superboy in his fight against Red X and punched the teen in the stomach. Superboy glared at Aqualad and uppercut him into the ceiling. Aqualad landed with a thud and picked himself off the ground, glaring at the clone.

"We are trying to help you," the Atlantean yelled over the din of the fighting.

Superboy yelled in response and continued his assault on Red X. Meanwhile, Robin threw disk after disk at Raven, but she just encased them with her magic and sent them right back to their owner. She also possessed a large tube that held vials of various colored liquids and sending it flying at the speedster and the Boy Wonder. Kid Flash grabbed Robin and sped them out of the tube's trajectory. Superboy swung wildly at Red X, who was using all the skills in his arsenal to stay out of the line of fire. He was jumping and flipping backwards until he hit a wall. Superboy yelled in rage as his target hadn't gone down yet and charged at the skull-faced teen. Red X flipped over the charging boy and was back in fighting position when he landed. Superboy pulled his arm out the wall and punched at Aqualad, who had strayed too close to his target.

"Too long," the Genomorphs hissed in the clone's head. "Finish them."

Superboy nodded and pursued the easiest target, Aqualad. He charged at the red and black clad teen and threw him into the ceiling. Once again the Atlantean crashed to the floor. This time he did not get up. Superboy then rushed at Robin who had turned his taser at the clone. The taser connected and shocked the half-Kryptonian, but it didn't harm him much. Superboy pulled on the wire, dragging the Boy Wonder with it, and punched the boy in the head, just hard enough to knock the twelve-year-old unconscious. Superboy then turned to the speedster who was still dealing with Raven. He charged and punched the speedster in the stomach, making him curl up in pain. Superboy then grabbed Kid Flash's leg and threw him into the wall, generating a large cloud of dust. Raven coughed and flew up to escape the dust cloud only to come face to face with the Kryptonian. Superboy grabbed her arm and dragged her to the ground and back into the dust cloud.

After a few seconds, the dust had cleared, the sidekicks were in various locations and positions around the room and Raven was just barely staying conscious enough to see Superboy walk out the door, where the man with a G-Gnome on his shoulder from the auction stood.

"Atta boy!" Dr. Mark Desmond said as he looked over the carnage. His eyes narrowed and he scowled, "Wait, where is the other one? Never mind, he'll turn up."

Raven wanted to stay awake longer but her body forced her to leave the waking world and entered the place only two others had entered, her mind.

Red X squatted on a thick pipe that was just below the ceiling and looked over the carnage. The clone had taken out three highly trained sidekicks in a matter of seconds. He had only survived a similar fate because Superboy had switched targets long enough for him to flee up here. He watched as Dr. Desmond ordered for the heroes to be podded and for the assistants to "prepare the cloning procedure." He carefully followed the scientists as they put the others in pods and got some of the giant Genomorphs, G-Trolls, to carry them out of the room.


	5. Three Types of Heroes

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, for beta-ing this for me.

Chapter Five

Three Types of Heroes

-

July 5: 00:01 EDT

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven chanted as she floated a foot off the ground.

She was on a cliff surrounded by something that resembled a clear night sky, except the stars were dark red and there were crimson rings that covered portions of the sky. She was in her mind, quite literally, and was waiting to wake up. The super-clone had hit her pretty hard, which had forced her to retreat into her mind. There had been nothing wrong with it, so Raven had started to meditate to wait for her awakening.

She repeated the words of her spell over and over, achieving a calm that few others knew. She only stopped when she heard a rustling of cloth and another voice joining in the chant to her right. She looked over to the source of the noise to see Hope, who looked exactly like Raven except with a bright blue cloak instead of the grey cloak Raven now wore. The last time Raven had seen her or any of her Emoticlones, as Beast Boy had dubbed them, had been when Cyborg and Beast Boy had accidentally entered her mind.

"Rage is quiet," Hope said. "She will not stay that way for long, however."

"We can control her," Courage assured as she appeared to Raven's left. She wore a dark green cloak with the hood flipped up. "We always have before."

"But Rage is always stronger when it is suppressed," the brown Knowledge said.

"She will break free and we will all be consumed in darkness," the yellow Fear stated as she appeared in the growing circle of Ravens.

"Stop!" Raven hissed in annoyance. "We will worry about it when the time comes. Let's just focus on keeping her out of my head for now."

"Alright, we'll do our best but it won't hold her for more than a month," Knowledge said, adjusting the round glasses that adorned her face.

There was another rustling of fabric and the Genomorph that had hurled the canisters at Red X and Raven walked into the circle of Ravens. Its horns didn't glow as they had before, but Raven could tell that he was there willingly.

"Time runs short. You must awaken!" it said in a commanding voice. "You must awaken NOW!"

Raven's eyes snapped open. She struggled to move but found herself strapped to a table inside of a pod, like the one Superboy had been in when she and Red X had found him. She looked around and saw Aqualad, Kid Flash and Robin in pods lined up to her right. Kid Flash gasped as Robin and Aqualad's eyes shot open like hers. Robin glared at her, like she was the reason he was in this predicament. She looked around and saw Superboy glaring at the four of them a few feet away from their pods.

"Gah! What do you want?" Kid Flash asked in shock and rage. Superboy did nothing but glance in his direction before returning his attention to the group at large. "Quit staring! It's making me nervous!"

"Hey, KF," Robin said from his pod, "let's not piss off the guy who can fry us with a look."

Raven shook her head and closed her eyes. She searched for Red X with her powers and found him right on top of her pod, quietly disarming it. Raven looked around again-Aqualad was shaking his head and getting his bearings while Robin and Kid Flash were staring at Superboy cautiously.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked the clone.

"I'm watching you," the clone stated, "until Cadmus is ready for you."

"Why are we in pods?" Kid Flash asked.

"I don't know," Superboy said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What do you mean? Don't you remember?" Kid Flash asked. "You're the reason we're he-"

"Kid, please, stop talking," Aqualad interrupted. "I believe he might not have been in full control of his actions."

"And if I wasn't?" Superboy snarled. Aqualad spread his hands in a gesture of peace. He smiled lightly.

"You seem familiar with our customs, how is that so?" he asked, changing the subject.

"The Genomorphs taught me telepathically," Superboy explained. "I can read, write, and I know the names of things."

"But you've never seen them?" Robin asked curiously. "You've never seen the sky or the moon?"

"Images are implanted in my mind, but... No, I have not," Superboy said, looking at the floor.

"Do you know what you are?" Kid Flash asked in near shock. Superboy glared at him.

"I am the Superboy, clone of the Superman. Made to replace him should he perish, or to destroy him should he turn from the path of Light," Superboy said stiffly, like he was reciting from a drilling manual. The three heroes exchanged glances with a mixture of surprise and fear at the determination in which he stated his purpose.

"To be like Superman is… an honorable aspiration," Aqualad praised gently. "But you, like he, deserve a life of your own. A life beyond Cadmus-beyond your pod."

"I live because of Cadmus!" Superboy snarled. "It is my home! And I must defend it in every way I can."

"A life lived in a gilded cage is still a life spent imprisoned," Raven said, finally speaking up.

"Wait, she can talk?!" Kid Flash asked, looking at the demoness.

Raven glared at him, her eyes flashing dangerously. The speedster quickly shut his mouth. Robin didn't look like he cared overly much, but Aqualad was looking at her curiously.

"And where do you fit into all of this?" he asked genuinely.

"Red X and I are the new heroes in Jump City, unrecognized by the League, of course-" Raven started to say.

"New thieves more like," Robin snorted from his pod. "You're rank A criminals. They crossed me and Batman, stole enough Xenothium to level a city, and now you're trying to steal something here. Not to mention the fact that your skull buddy, Red X you said, has evaded capture and left you to rot. What more proof do you need?"

"Robin, be quiet. It may be that what you think you saw is not the case," Aqualad said, keeping calm. "It appears that if Raven is truthful, then she is merely trying to help."

"Not for long, she won't," the voice of Dr. Desmond called out. The four heroes looked up to see the doctor, Slade, Terra, and two lab assistants walking into the room. "She'll be otherwise occupied. You all will, actually. Begin the cloning process." One of the lab assistants walked over to a terminal by the wall and pressed a few buttons.

"I think I'll pass on that," Robin quipped. "The Batcave is crowded enough."

"Get the weapon back in its pod!" Desmond said to Deathstroke, ignoring Robin. Superboy growled at the use of the term 'weapon.' Deathstroke walked over to Superboy and laid a hand on his shoulder. He began to steer the boy away from the the soon-to-be-cloned heroes. Superboy glanced at Aqualad as he was being led away.

"Help us," the Atlantean pleaded quietly.

Superboy shrugged off Deathstroke's hand and stopped in the middle of the room. Desmond noticed and glared at the clone. He walked over to Superboy and the mercenary and scowled.

"Oh, don't start thinking now!" he exclaimed. The small G-Gnome that sat on his shoulder jumped off and squatted on Superboy's. Its tiny horns glowed bright red and Superboy instantly relaxed, staring straight ahead, as if he was in a trance. "See? You're not a real boy. You're a weapon. A tool to be used. And you. Belong. To me! …Well, the Cadmus Board of Directors actually, but it's the same thing really."

"Keep telling yourself that," Slade muttered to Terra. The girl snickered while Desmond ordered the clone back to its pod. Deathstroke and Terra followed Superboy out of the room.

"Where's Dubbilex?" Desmond asked looking around. He jumped when the tall genomorph stepped out of the shadows right behind him. "Gah, lurking as usual. Get the G-Gnomes down here and start downloading the subjects' memories."

"It will be done," the Genomorph said monotonously before stepping out of the room.

Desmond nodded to the lab assistant that was a the terminal. He pressed a few buttons and thin robotic arms folded out of the bottom of the sidekicks' pods. The arms in Raven's pod, however, didn't. The arms that were working attached themselves to the boys' chests and started to electrocute them and extract their blood. The sidekicks screamed in agony while Red X, who was still invisible, laid down explosive Xs on the tanks that held the extracted blood.

"What's wrong?" Desmond asked, gesturing to Raven's pod that still hadn't done anything. The lab assistant glanced at the terminal and pressed a few more buttons. Suddenly electricity coursed through her body and she crumpled like a rag doll.

Red X removed his hand from the assistant's neck and quickly made his way over to the back of the room and activated the Xs that were on the tanks. They went up in small balls of fire and the procedure stopped. Immediately, the sidekicks went limp with groans of relief. Just then, the door crumpled and completely fell off its hinges, slamming onto the floor. Superboy stepped onto the half foot thick door and walked over it. Desmond turned to the boy and scowled once more.

"I told you to go back to your p-" he shouted before he was knocked flat on his face by a spinning kick in the head from Red X, who had deactivated his invisibility midair.

"Let's go. We don't have much time before the alarms go off," Red X said, moving towards Raven's pod.

"Don't give me orders," Superboy growled before moving towards the door. There was a slight click and Robin dropped from the restraining cuffs and out of the pod, rubbing his wrists.

"Ah! Finally!" he exclaimed. "Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

"Really, dude? That's what you're worried about?" Kid Flash asked incredulously. "In case you hadn't noticed, the whole League will have our heads after this fiasco!"

Red X pushed a few buttons on the terminal which opened the doors of the pods. He ran over and freed Raven then moved onto Aqualad, picking the locks on the handcuffs that kept them restrained in under a minute.

"Thank you," Aqualad sighed as he dropped out of the pod.

"Let's move," Red X replied before he jumped to the floor. Robin freed Kid Flash while Aqualad, Red X, Raven, and Superboy were impatiently waiting at the door. The stragglers ran to door, passing Dr. Desmond as he struggled to get up from the floor. The doctor spotted Red X and glared at him.

"Enjoy your last evening, brat," he snarled at the dark-clad teen. He looked at the others. "And the rest of you, I'll have you back in pods by morning, mark my words."

"Consider them marked," Red X said as he spun around and threw a dull shuriken at Desmond, which hit him in the side of the head.

"That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all," Robin muttered to Kid Flash as Red X caught up with them.

"Seriously, what is it with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" Kid Flash asked as the group of heroes sprinted for the elevator.

They turned a corner and saw the sacks that sat in the wall were glowing bright red. soon an army of G-Elves started to crawl out of the sacks and glared at the fleeing heroes. The heroes in question ran faster towards the elevator door, which was only a few yards away, and almost made it, until a group of massive G-Trolls blocked their path. The heroes collectively prepared for battle with Raven and Red X establishing the familiar mental connection and the others simply crouching down into battle positions.

"We need to get past them that's all," Raven thought.

"Agreed," Red X replied. "Smoke, shield, then fly."

"Got it."

The heroes sprang into action with Red X throwing a smoke pellet and Raven raising a shield of black energy to block the wild punch from the foremost Troll that Red X had predicted. Raven then flew over the pack of Trolls, with Red X teleporting through the pack. Robin flipped over the group of Trolls as soon as the smoke screen was full up. Kid Flash and Aqualad rushed through the legs of the massive creatures.

Superboy, on the other hand, yelled in rage and punched the Troll that had tried to punch Red X and Raven so hard that the massive creature dropped back and knocked over one of its comrades. Superboy then turned and grabbed another Troll's leg and started to repeatedly slam it into the wall like it was a baseball bat, shaking the entire corridor. He abruptly stopped and threw it into the army of G-Elves that had surrounded the heroes. The elves scrambled to get out of the way, but most were not fast enough and were crushed under the weight of the massive Genomorph. Superboy turned to the rest of the Trolls and rushed at them, still yelling in rage.

"Superboy, now is not the time," Raven called as the other heroes watched the clone.

Superboy only yelled louder and punched the two remaining Trolls in the head, sending them crashing into the wall. He then turned and stalked up to the others, glaring at them menacingly. He stepped up to the elevator doors and shoved them open with his bare hands, bending the metal into useless pieces of crumpled metal.

Robin and Red X both shot their grapple guns up the shaft. They were pulled several floors up with Raven flying up behind them. Kid Flash ran along the wall and stopped beside Red X and Robin as they balanced on the thin support beam. Superboy grabbed Aqualad and lept into the air. He almost made it to the beam where the other heroes balanced on, before he suddenly started to fall. Red X's eyes widened when he saw the two descend. He quickly raised his palm and fired off an adhesive X at Superboy's hand which the Kryptonian had raised when he had jumped.

The glob of glue hit Superboy's hand and carried the two heroes into the wall, where it stuck firmly. Half a second later Robin's grapple gun lodged itself into the wall by the two heroes. The Kryptonian let go of Aqualad slowly, making sure the Atlantean was firmly balanced on the beam a next to them. He grabbed the grapple gun's line and yanked his imprisoned hand out of the glue that had prevented him and Aqualad from falling to their deaths. Superboy dropped onto the beam and crouched down to remain balanced on the thin piece of metal.

"I can't fly," he stated in shock. "Superman can fly. Why can't I?"

"Don't know," Kid Flash shrugged before grinning eagerly. "But it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. That's still pretty cool." Robin nodded and grinned at Superboy before he hear a slight sparking sound causing him to glance upward. His masked eyes widened and his grin was quickly replaced by a look of fear.

"Guys!" he shouted drawing everyone's attention. "Sorry to cut this short but we need to get out of here, if we don't want this to be our last day on Earth."

The other heroes looked up and saw what had frightened the Boy Wonder. The elevator was speeding down toward them. Robin took the lead and jumped down to the floor of the level below them and began to hack the security on the door.

"Clear!" he shouted to Aqualad once he had passed the facility's security. Aqualad shoved the door open and the heroes flowed into Sub-Level 16.

-

July 5: 00:27 EDT

"Recognised: Batman-02, Superman-01, Green Arrow-05, Wonder Woman-03, Martian Manhunter-07, Flash-04, Aquaman-06, Red Tornado-16, Zatara-11," the computer said monotonously.

"...want a full investigation on who took out Winter's Chill," Batman was saying to Superman as they walked back into the library of the Hall of Justice. "Anyone who could take down an ice villain with an invention like that could be a valuable asset to the League."

"I agree," Superman said as the other Leaguers stepped out of the Zeta tube. "We'll get working on locating this unknown hero and extending the offer."

"Good. Now we should find Robin and the others and continue their orientation," Batman said.

"Hey, guys?" Flash called out from the computer terminal. "Did we ever send anyone over to deal with the Cadmus fire?"

"I don't think so. Why?" Green Arrow asked as he put a new tip on one of his arrows.

"Because we've got a news report on a bunch of heroes putting out the fire and saving a few scientists," Flash said as he read the file. "It looks like three-no, five teenagers went into the building and haven't come out yet."

"Let me see," Batman commanded as he moved over to the computer. Flash hurriedly stepped out of the way and let the world's greatest detective do his work.

Batman quickly accessed the security footage of the upper levels of the building. The League watched the screen as Batman rewound the footage to see various rooms of the building. They scanned the screens as they looked for anything unusual. Finally Batman slowed the footage down when he saw Aqualad, Kid Flash and Robin exit one of the computer rooms though a shattered window.

Batman played the recording and the Leaguers watched as Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad entered the room minutes after one another. They continued to watch the multi-camera view as the sidekicks left the room and jumped into an elevator.

"So that seems to explain where the Robin and the others went. But who were the other two that the report mentioned?" Zatara asked.

Batman wordlessly rewound the tape some more and stopped when he saw two teenagers enter the room. The caped crusader stared at the screen in something akin to disbelief as he saw the hooded girl and her skull-masked accomplice frozen on the screen. Superman's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the two teens. The other Leaguers looked equally confused by the appearance of the two teens and Batman's reaction to them.

"Who are they?" Superman asked.

"Thieves," Batman answered simply. "Robin and I found them in Jump City the other week making off with ten vials of concentrated Xenothium. They escaped capture but claimed that they hadn't stolen anything. I've been trying to find out more about them, but there is very little to go on."

"Hmm, well whatever the case, we should get them to talk with us. If they aren't thieves they might be hero material," Superman said raising his hand to his chin ponderously. "They haven't come out right?"

"No, they haven't," Flash said as he accessed the report from another terminal nearby "Which probably means that they're in over their heads."

"Probably," Batman said as he activated the League comlink. "Batman to Justice League. I want all senior members to meet me at Cadmus Genetics Lab."

-

July 5 00:44 EDT

Red X stared at the hoard of Genomorphs that surrounded them. Cadmus had pulled out all the stops, it seemed like every Genomorph in the entire facility was crammed into the small hallway that the heroes had cornered themselves in. The others had crouched down as if they could fight their way out of this. But Raven and Red X had simply stood still, trying to figure out a way to get at least one of them out of this. The G-Gnomes' horns suddenly glowed bright red. That, the heroes had learned, signaled the use of their powers. Red X immediately felt tired and sick.

Robin and Aqualad collapsed and landed on their sides while Superboy struggled a little before he knelt on the floor. Red X, Raven, and Kid Flash all collapsed and landed flat on their backs. And just like that, the sidekicks had been vanquished. Dubbilex stepped through the crowd and sent out his mental powers. He spoke in everyone's mind as he stepped up to the conquered heroes.

"Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, we should let the Superboy make up his own mind," he said with no change in his outwards demeanor. Superboy's eyes shot open and he looked at the tall genomorph in shock.

"You?" he said through the mental link "You're the one who gave me directions?"

"Yes, brother," Dubbilex said "I was the one who set the fire. The one who lured your new friends into Cadmus. The one who woke them when they were in peril. And the one who-"

"Guided me," Superboy finished. The sidekicks were waking up and rubbing their heads but Red X and Raven had yet to be woken. "But why?"

"Because you are our only hope," Dubbilex explained. "You are the Genomorph Hero. The guiding light to all our kind. You will show us the way to freedom and a life without Cadmus."

Aqualad groaned as he sat up and looked around. Nothing had changed, though the tall Genomorph was speaking in his head now. That was not something he had wished to put on his-as the humans called it-bucket list. He saw Robin and Kid Flash sitting up but saw that Robin's thieves had yet to wake.

"Why are they not waking?" he asked out loud, pointing to the two. Dubbilex turned to him and looked at the dark-clad teens.

"They are strong, but dangerous to those they perceive as foes. It would be unwise for us to wake them at this time," Dubbilex said in his mind before turning back to Superboy. "So brother, what will you choose?"

"I… chose... freedom," Superboy said slowly.

Dubbilex nodded and the army of Genomorphs stepped aside, revealing Dr. Desmond striding towards the group with a blue vial in his hand.

"Why are you not subduing them?" he shouted as he came closer.

"Brother Superboy has chosen freedom over a pod, doctor," Dubbilex said "We will honor his choice."

"Really? Well, I think it doesn't have a choice to begin with," Desmond snarled.

"I am not an 'it,'" Superboy growled. Red X and Raven suddenly showed signs of waking. Red X groaned and Raven growled menacingly, though both still had their eyes sealed shut.

"Yes, you are," Desmond argued. "But if you won't go willingly, then Project Blockbuster will make you." He popped the cork from the vial with his thumb and tipped the contents into his open mouth.

Immediately he fell to his knees and started to curl into a human ball, screaming in agony. He uncurled and his muscles started to bulge. His lab coat and shirt were torn to shreds as Dr. Desmond growled ferally. Still screaming, Desmond's eyes opened, revealing a feral gleam that was punctuated by burning red pupils that had dominated the man's optical organs. The creature that had been Desmond screamed and its skin mimicked its lab coat and was ripped off its body, completing its transformation.

The creature that kneeled before the heroes was still humanoid, but with grey skin and glowing red eyes. It still wore Desmond's dark brown pants, they must have been made of raw elastic or something to stretch while every other piece of clothing had been torn to shreds. There were several red gashes that ran across Desmond's body, mainly clustered around where the joints would were. That is to say the neck, elbows and knees.

The creature stared at them and growled ferally. Superboy growled as well and charged at the new foe. He jumped up and punched the monster in the face with enough force to destroy a concrete wall but it only made the creature lean back a little. It retaliated back, punching Superboy and sending him slamming into the ground. Superboy glared at the former scientist then rushed at him, delivering a flurry of punches that would have put any other person on his deathbed. The monster took the hits then gave the clone another taste of the floor, sending the Kryptonian spinning head over heels.

Red X and Raven woke up at that moment and immediately accessed the situation. The sidekicks were standing in the middle of the hall, watching Superboy get the shit beat out of him by a muscular grey…thing with their mouths agape. By the looks of it, the Genomorph army had scattered for the most part and what few stragglers remained had no intention of sticking around to fight. Red X watched as Superboy pushed himself off the floor and jumped into the air. The grey creature jumped at the clone and carried both of them through the ceiling leading to the surface, making a small hole as they went through the cement. That jolted the sidekicks out of their daze. Robin looked up into the hole then smiled while Kid Flash and Aqualad looked around for the Genomorph army.

"Well, that's one way to get to the top floor," Robin quipped as he fired his grapple gun up through the hole. Kid Flash grabbed the Boy Wonder's arm just as he started to be pulled up into the room.

"Hey, you think Lab Coat planned that?" the speedster asked as he was pulled up out of the corridor.

"I highly doubt that Dr. Desmond is planning anything anymore," Aqualad said before he jumped through the hole and into the fight.

"Do they have to comment on everything?" Raven asked as she carried Red X through the hole. "One Beast Boy was enough."

The sight that greeted them was a hectic battle against a monstrous Desmond who wouldn't go down. Superboy and Aqualad took turns beating on the monster, while Kid Flash sped around the room zooming in and out of the combatants and taking potshots at Desmond. Robin flipped from pillar to pillar, throwing explosive disks at the former scientist. The thing took all the hits and gave as many back in return, grabbing the legs of Superboy and throwing him into Aqualad. He punched Kid Flash in the stomach as the yellow-clad teen sped past his legs, sending the speedster flying into the column the Robin had just landed on. The four heroes slid to a stop at Raven and Red X's feet and picked themselves off the floor. Red X and Raven assumed the positions they had last taken when they were Titans. They were positioned in a way that guaranteed that they would be able to see what happened to those they were fighting with, while also giving them plenty of mobility. It so like their time back home that Red X relaxed a little.

"Titans, go!" he shouted accidentally. Instead of obeying, the other heroes looked at him, confused. Raven glared at him with glowing eyes, making Red X flinch. He brushed it off by kicking in Desmond's face. One that would have sent even Cinderblock staggering, but only made the former scientist lean back a little.

Robin and the others joined in now with Kid Flash racing behind the monster's legs and crouching down on all fours, quickly followed by Superboy and Aqualad both punching him in the face. The mutant toppled over Kid Flash's haunched form. Desmond crashed to the floor and finally acted as if something had hurt him. He pushed himself of the floor and got hit in the face by both an X shuriken and a birdarang as Red X and Robin jumped over their foe, almost mirroring each other. Desmond raised his arm to ward off additional attacks, blocking his eyes from the outside world for a few seconds. Raven took advantage of this and possessed one of the columns, bringing it around to slam into the creature's face just as it lowered its arm. Desmond stumbled back a little and growled at his attackers.

The building rumbled from the removal of one of its columns, but only Robin noticed as the others were all busy making sure that Desmond didn't charge at them. Desmond did just that and ran towards Superboy, the creature's arms outstretched. It grabbed the clone and slammed him into one of the columns, crashing through it and smashing into the wall, cracking it visably. Superboy punched his attacker in the face and got a punch in the face for his trouble. He would have received another one but Raven intervened. She wrapped Superboy in a bubble of energy that made Desmond's attack rebound and send him flying backwards.

Aqualad activated his Water-Bearers, forming a giant mace, and lept into the air, bringing the water weapon on the monster. The mutant caught the weapon and slung it and its owner across the room, into another pillar. The building rumbled again and Kid Flash tripped slightly as he sped over to Aqualad. Desmond caught the junior speedster and swung him like a club at Red X, who had jumped into the air to punch their foe. The former scientist let go of Kid Flash and the two heroes slammed into the wall. Raven grabbed another pillar and used it as a battering ram on Desmond, forcing him against the wall with repeated strikes until the pillar was nothing more than rubble.

Robin looked over the situation as Raven pulled the pillar out of its foundation. They were winning, barely, but they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. The building rumbled again and he got an idea. If they couldn't beat this thing, maybe a ton of rubble could. It was a longshot, but it was the only plan he had. He spotted Kid Flash and Red X beginning to pick themselves off the floor and the plan came together.

"X, KF, get over here," he shouted. Both heroes rushed over to the Boy Wonder. Robin had his wrist computer out and showing the room as it was.

Superboy was punching Desmond, once more held against the wall, with Aqualad swinging his water swords at the mutant's legs, having little effect on him. Kid Flash ran up to them and punched Desmond in the nose, doing little other than gaining his attention. He sped over to one of the three remaining columns that Robin wanted destroyed.

"Hey, Ugly, you remind me of my grandma," Kid Flash called out. "Oh, wait, my grandma still hits better than you." Red X sighed. Raven was right, it was like Beast Boy all over again.

While unorthodox, Kid Flash's comment had the desired effect. Desmond dropped Superboy and charged at the speedster. Kid Flash ran out of the way and the grey monstrosity crashed right through the pillar.

"Really? That's it? Too slow, my friend. Far too slow," Kid Flash said as he sped to another pillar.

Red X teleported onto Desmond's back and planted an explosive X as the creature turned around to face the speedster. The X went off and got the former scientist's attention. Red X flipped into the middle of the room and assumed a ready fighting stance, ready for the beast to charge. There was only one pillar left that Robin wanted destroyed and Raven had possessed it, ready to use it as a baseball bat when Red X was clear. Desmond charged and Red X flipped over him. The brute kept charging, right into the pillar that Raven had swung at his face.

He was knocked back onto the slick of water that Aqualad had created down the center of the long room. Desmond slid down the room and onto a large, X-shaped chalk that Robin had drawn after he had explained the plan to Superboy and Aqualad. The Atlantean and Red X both activated their electrical abilities and shocked the water, and, by conductivity, Desmond. The brute screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through his body.

"Boom!" Robin shouted as all the explosive birdarangs he had thrown into the upper pillars went off.

Raven tackled Red X and created a bubble of black magic around them to protect them. Superboy and Aqualad hunched over Robin and Kid Flash and shielded them from the falling rubble with their much more durable bodies as the entire building collapsed in a huge cloud of smoke and dust.

When the dust cleared, the only sign that the teens was the edge of Raven's shield poking out of a pile of rubble. A few feet away a large chunk of cement crisscrossed with rebar shifted and was thrown away by Superboy. Aqualad stood up and hauled Kid Flash and Robin to their feet as the black bubble expanded, pushing the rubble surrounding it away. Raven dispelled the shield and Red X picked himself off the ground as Raven lowered her arms from near spread eagle pose she had taken when she had hastily formed the shield. Raven dropped to her knees and sighed in exhaustion.

Superboy stared up at the sky as Robin and Kid Flash high fived each other for making it out alive, then quickly clutched their sides in pain. Red X knelt next to Raven and quickly checked to see if she was alright. Aqualad saw this and he smiled kindly at the two. No matter what they were, it was clear to him that they looked out for each other. But if what Robin had said was true, then they might have to look out for each other in prison soon enough. That thought brought a frown to his face.

"Is anyone hurt?" Kid Flash asked as he looked around at the assembled teens.

Everyone shook their head or voiced a negative. Superboy walked over to where Desmond lay under a large chuck of the ceiling, unconscious. Kid Flash walked over to the mutant and kicked him lightly. Desmond didn't stir. Superboy turned his gaze away from the brute and back towards the moon in something close to wonder.

"It's darker than what they showed," he muttered as he gazed at it. He squinted as he saw something appear to come out of the moon towards him.

Superman flew towards them with most of the League in tow. They landed around heroes, forming a ring. Red X and Raven glanced around cautiously and moved to where they stood back to back. Batman stepped off a glowing green platform that Green Lantern Stewart had constructed to transport the flightless League members and stood behind the Man of Steel. He narrowed his eyes menacingly as he gazed upon the dark-clad teens.

Green Lantern Jordan constructed glowing green handcuffs around the wrists of Red X and Raven and then nodded to Batman. Batman turned his attention to the sidekicks and Superboy, glaring at them as usual. Aqualad shifted uncomfortably at the sight of Red X and Raven being handcuffed, but he did not speak up. Robin gazed emotionlessly at Batman and the others, obviously trusting their judgement. Kid Flash was still rubbing his sides in pain but nodded in Flash's direction. Superboy stared at Superman in awe, like he was something the boy never expected to see. He stepped forwards and pointed to his chest, directing the League's attention to the symbol that adorned his chest.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman growled, narrowing his eyes.

"I am not an 'it,'" Superboy growled for the second time that night. Batman narrowed his eyes, if possible, even further. "I'm Superman's clone." The statement earned several shocked and worried looked from the Leaguers.

"Talk. Now," Batman growled at Robin.

"The short version is that we were angry at you guys for not letting us join your mission, went to investigate the fire, got captured and then escaped. Um, they helped," Kid Flash said quickly pointing at Red X and Raven. This did not seem to please Batman and he growled at his partner. Robin quickly started to explain things as best he could, including every detail beginning to end.

Thirty minutes later, Green Lantern Stewart and several other Leaguers flew off with Desmond contained in a sphere of green energy with the sidekicks and Superboy huddled together with Red X and Raven being watched as they stood by the other Leaguers with their hands still in glowing green cuffs. Superman and the mentors discussed the story they had been given by the two groups of teenagers and occasionally glanced at one of the two sets of heroes. Superboy stared at Superman as the older Kryptonian tried his best to ignore the clone. The Man of Steel finally gave in and walked over to the sidekicks, smiling halfheartedly at Superboy.

"Um, we'll figure something out for you," he said awkwardly. "Where you'll live, I mean. Anyway, I, um, I better go see that they get that Blockbuster monster put away." With that, he backed away a few steps and flew after the other Leaguers.

"Cadmus will be investigated. Every single level will be combed from top to bottom," Batman said as he and the other mentors walked up behind the group of sidekicks, startling them slightly. "But let's get one thing clear-"

"You should have called," Flash interrupted. Batman glared at him making the speedster back off a step.

"Results aside, we are not happy," Batman continued, turning his attention back to the young heroes. "You hacked Justice League systems, consorted with a known mercenary for your own personal gain, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives." The sidekicks shifted uncomfortably and Aqualad glanced at the others.

"What will happen to Red X and Raven?" he asked Batman.

"They will be taken to prison for their crimes and you will not be doing this sort of stunt again," Batman growled at them. This was usually enough to send any sane person fleeing for their lives, but Superboy and Aqualad stared down the Dark Knight like he was a common criminal.

"I am sorry, Batman, but we will," Aqualad said icily.

"Aqualad, stand down," Aquaman ordered his apprentice from behind Batman.

"Apologies, my king, but no," Aqualad responded, to his mentor's surprise. "We have done good work here tonight, the work you have trained us to do, and those two helped us. I will not let them be rewarded for their aid with prison."

"Look, if this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you-" Flash said angrily.

"The six of us," Kid Flash interrupted pointedly. "And no, it's not." Robin sighed reluctantly.

"Batman, you trained us to do this sort of thing. And as much as I hate to admit it, Red X and Raven did help. If they are bad then let us learn from that on our own, let us use your teachings, or what was the point?" he said quietly.

"Why are you letting them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked angrily. "It's simple: get on board or get out of the way." The sidekicks nodded and looked at Batman and the others.

"Fine," Batman snapped. He glanced to Red and Raven and walked over to them, glaring down at the teenagers. "You came all the way to Jump City to get here, but you saved those scientists. Why?"

"They were in trouble," Red X replied like it was obvious. "Just because the League didn't know about us doesn't mean that we can't be the good guys."

"You don't look like heroes. You especially, X," Robin pointed out as he stormed over to the group.

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge, Chuckles" Red X chuckled. "It's not like you're free of any dark pasts."

Robin flinched and growled in offense, but Raven interrupted before they could argue further.

"We knew something was wrong with Cadmus," she said. "We came to investigate."

"What about the Xenothium you stole?" Robin demanded.

"Stolen from thieves that had a lot worse plans than we had with it," Raven said. "We were there to stop an auction of illegal items. Nothing more."

"If I may add," Green Arrow offered, placing a hand on the Dark Knight's shoulder, "what they say does make sense. There was a report of a scuffle at a black market sell-off. And considering that and tonight's events…"

"I'm still not convinced," Batman growled.

"They saved our lives," Aqualad pointed out. "We at least owe them for that."

"Yeah! We were goners until they came around!" Kid Flash said, waving his hands to express his point.

"We're on the same side, whether you want to believe it or not, Dark Knight," Red X growled.

"I don't believe you," the Bat said in his usual growl.

"How about if we offer you a deal?" Flash cut in. Batman glared at him but didn't voice any complaints.

"What would that be?" Raven asked.

"Prove your honesty to the League, and we'll give you a pass from prison," Aquaman said, crossing his arms. "But one mistake, you'll never see the light of day again." Red X smiled underneath his mask.

"And here I thought we'd be talking about this all night. Fine, that works for me," he said

Instead of voicing her opinion, Raven merely nodded. Aquaman turned to Batman.

"Batman, does that sound fair to you?" he asked.

"It's agreeable for now," he said.

The Dark Knight nodded to Green Lantern Jordan and the glowing handcuffs disappeared from the wrists of Red X and Raven.

-

July 8 08:04 EDT

"Welcome to Mount Justice," Batman said in his usual monotone. "This used to be the original headquarters of the Justice League, but it was retired when its location was compromised."

All the teens were in civilian clothing, other than Red X and Raven, who were so used to living in their costumes that they saw no need to take them off. They were in the middle of the mountain, by the zeta tubes that would take them anywhere that had similar technology. Red X had managed to get through the DNA scanners without setting off alarms, thankfully.

"We're calling it into service again, since you six are so determined to fight the good fight." Batman continued as he walked down the line of teens. He stopped in front of Red X and Raven. "But you will do it on League terms. Red Tornado here has volunteered to live here and supervise you. Black Canary will be in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked

"They'll be covert, but yes, they will be real missions," Batman said.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash said. "There's a reason we have these targets on our chests."

"But what we've found at Cadmus proves that the villains are getting smarter. We need a team to operate on the sly," Aquaman said

"The seven of you will be that team," Batman said.

"Sweat!" Robin exclaimed "Wait, seven?" Batman gestured behind them and the assembled heroes turned around to see Martian Manhunter and a green girl walking out of a Zeta tube.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman explained as the pair walked up the heroes.

"Hi," the green girl said shyly.

"I'm liking this gig more every minute," Kid Flash muttered to Robin before he stepped forward, smiling brightly. "Welcome to the Cave. I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad. It's ok if you forget their names."

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian said, smiling slightly. The sidekicks crowded around the Martian, introducing themselves to their new teammate. Superboy and the former Titans stayed back and watched.

"He really is like beast boy, isn't he?" Red X said to Raven through their mental link.

"Yo, Superboy, Red X, come and meet Miss M," Robin called to them. They walked over to the Martian and watched as her shirt changed to the same color as Superboy's black and red Superman t-shirt.

"I like your t-shirt," Miss Martian said nervously. Superboy's mouth twitched.

"Today is the day," Aqualad said as he looked around at the assembled heroes, smiling.


	6. The Ants Go Marching

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, for beta-ing this for me.

 

Chapter Six

The Ants go Marching

July 18 02:10 EDT

"Recognised: Robin-B01, Aqualad-B02, Kid Flash-B04," the computer droned.

The original sidekicks stepped out of the Zeta tube and into the heart of Mount Justice, their expressions sullen. As they walked into the massive room that made up the central portion of the cave, their dark expressions turned curious as they saw Red X and Raven facing each other in civilian clothes in the sparring ring.

Red X wore a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt and jeans with a red Jump City Tigers baseball cap on that covered his hair. Raven, on the other hand, wore a thin black t-shirt underneath a purple zip up hoodie with the hood flipped down and jeans with her violet hair hanging free. Neither of them moved. Raven floated a few inches off the ground while Red X stood in a battle stance his Bo staff pointed at his partner. The two stared at each other, each waiting for the other to strike first.

Red X finally gave in and ran at his partner, lowering his weapon like a spear. At the last moment, he planted the staff into the ground and used his momentum to launch himself into the air with a kick aimed right at Raven's chest. The demoness swiped her hand through the air in front of her and generated a barrier of black energy. She responded by sending out black beams from her palms that Red X flipped backwards to avoid. Red X landed, facing Raven, and leapt at her, aiming to punch her in the face, but she glided out of the way. As Raven was about to make a counter attack, Aqualad started to clap slowly, drawing their attention and ending the fight.

"You are both skilled fighters," he praised, "but we are back and have news on our friend."

"What is it?" Red X asked, collapsing his bo staff and holding it loosely in his hand.

"Speedy's not interested it seems," Kid Flash said before speeding over towards the tunnel that led to the kitchen. "He said, and I quote, 'your Junior Justice League is a joke.'"

"Then his mind is made up," Raven said. "No point in changing it."

"No, it appears we cannot," Aqualad agreed, nodding. "For now, that is."

"Well, I'm going to crash," Kid Flash yawned as he sped back into the room, an energy bar halfway to his mouth. "See ya."

He sped back into the Zeta tube and was transported to Central City. Robin stared at Red X. The way that he fought was similar to how Batman had taught him, but not exact. X's fighting style seamed to focus more on taking the enemy down in the fewest strikes necessary, whereas Batman's and his own style focused on timing and stealth. But maybe he was seeing things. He decided to keep an eye on the dark hero and his partner for the time being.

"I think I'm going to hit the hay as well," the Boy Wonder yawned. "See you later."

He turned around and was beamed away from the cave. The others slowly trickled to bed with Red X and Raven staying the longest.

The next morning, the five resident heroes watched the holographic screen as Red Tornado flew across the ocean towards the harbor. Red X and Raven were bored out of their minds. Raven had already cleared the cave's library of any and all books she found interesting. Red X, on the other hand, had managed to hack into the computers of the cave and get extensive profiles on every member of both the team-as Robin was starting to call it-and the Justice League. He had also sent several packages of computer parts to the factory in Jump City, hiding the costs in Batman's batarang budget, which was, as he told Raven, "Bigger than you might think." But both of them had finished their projects and had had nothing to do for a couple days now.

The Zeta tube that was imbedded into the wall sprang to life and the computer announced the entrance of Kid Flash and Robin.

"Is he here?" robin asked as they ran up to the holographic screen.

"He is arriving now," Aqualad said to him, gesturing to the icon that represented Red Tornado.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash asked before speeding down the hall. "Let's go meet him."

The others looked at each other before following her out of the main room at varying paces. Red X looked at Raven and shrugged before they both followed the others. They walked down the tunnels behind the others and watched as the heroes talked and joked around with each other.

"Chuckles and Kid Flash seem close," Red X commented.

"He has a name, you know," Raven deadpanned.

"Well, what else am I supposed to call him? " Red X explained. Well aware that Superboy could be listening, he simply said, "Too many memories with that name. And Chuckles fits-he never stops making jokes."

Raven nodded in understanding and turned back to the group. When they arrived at the entrance, Miss Martian opened the main hangar and they all watched as Red Tornado land in the open space in front of them, everyone but Red and Raven rushing to greet the robot.

"Greetings, children," he said monotonously. "Is there some reason that you meet me outside the cave?"

"They were hoping that you had a mission for them," Red X called out from his position of leaning against the stone wall of the entrance. Red Tornado turned his head towards the blue clad teen.

"I see," Red Tornado stated, turning his head back to the others "It is not my responsibility to assign missions. That is the job of the Batman."

"But it's been over a week," Robin protested.

"You will be tested shortly. Until then, please remain calm and enjoy each other's company," the robot replied.

"This isn't a social club," Aqualad responded coldly.

"No," Red Tornado agreed. "But I am told that social interaction is an important part of team building. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave."

Red Tornado turned from them and walked into the cave, nodding to each of them as he passed. He stopped in front of Red X and Raven.

"This team is young," he said. "And their trust is fragile. I would suggest you keep that in mind."

With that, he walked into the cave, the computer recognizing him and announcing his entrance. Kid Flash grumbled something to Robin that Red X didn't catch and punched his shoulder.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin asked in annoyance.

"Oh, I'll find out!" Miss Martian said eagerly.

She turned towards the robot and narrowed her eyes in concentration. Raven felt her probing her mind and quickly forced her out. Red X felt her too and narrowed his eyes menacingly, making her hastily retreat and focus on Red Tornado. Miss Martian sighed and lowered her head.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. I forgot," she said sheepishly. "He's inorganic. I cannot read his mind."

"It was a nice try though," Kid Flash complimented before leaning close to the Martian and lowering his voice to a smooth tone. "So… you know what I'm thinking about right now?" Robin smacked the speedster's head with his hand and scoffed.

"We all know what you're thinking about right now," he scolded.

"Oww... Hey, that hurt," Kid Flash complained, standing up straight and rubbing the back of his head.

"So now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad said angrily.

"Hey, since me, Superboy and those two live here most of the time, we can give you a tour," Miss Martian suggested, turning to look at Raven and Robin.

"Don't look at us-we're temporary residents," Red X said, raising his hands.

"We won't," Kid Flash replied, before once again sliding into the smooth tone from earlier. "A private tour sounds much better, babe."

"She never said private," Raven scowled. "No matter what your immature brain told you."

"He said teambuilding," Aqualad reminded Kid Flash. "We'll all go."

Miss Martian smiled and nodded before turning around and gesturing for the others to follow her. Red X pushed himself away from the wall and joined the back of the group with Raven. Kid Flash stayed close to Miss Martian and started to flirt with her while Aqualad and Superboy remained silent as Miss Martian led them back down into the cave.

"Well, this is our front door," the green girl said as she began the tour.

A little while later the group walked into the cave's garage. It was a large room that led into the sea on the lower levels with plenty of room to work on whatever the team need done. Red X looked it over and instantly started to compare it to the Titan's garage but that led to thoughts of Cyborg and Beast Boy, which didn't help him at all.

"This entire structure was actually hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern Jordan in the early days of the League," Kid Flash said as they walked into the room, trying to impress Miss Martian.

"Why'd they leave?" Superboy asked

"The cave's location became common knowledge to the criminal underworld and it was regularly attacked by the more… violent villains," Aqualad explained "To protect the civilians living in the area, the League moved."

"To a flashy tourist trap?" Superboy asked rhetorically. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Well then, if villains know of the cave then shouldn't we be on constant alert?" Miss Martian asked worriedly. Robin grabbed her hand reassuringly and drew her attention.

"Relax, Miss M," he said. "The thing is that since the bad guys know we know they know about the place, they'll never think to look here." Miss Martian looked at him, confused.

"Uh, he means, we're hiding in plain sight," Kid Flash clarified for her.

"Ah, that's much clearer," Miss Martian said, sounding even more confused.

"Long story short," Red X broke in, "they won't find us here." The others nodded in confirmation before Superboy turned his head back towards the main part of the cave and sniffed lightly.

"Hey guys, I smell smoke. Should we be worried about that?" he asked. Miss Martian gasped in horror and flew out of the room.

"Oh, no! My cookies! I totally forgot," she yelled as she increased her speed.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday," Red X commented before Raven scowled at him as the heroes ran after Miss Martian.

When they reached the kitchen they saw the Martian girl levitating the cookie tray out of the oven and setting it on the counter, revealing the blackened piles of cookie dough. Miss Martian gazed at them solemnly. Kid Flash looked at the possible food and dug in, though Miss Martian didn't appear to notice. The Martian girl sighed.

"I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode nine of… nevermind," she explained before cutting herself off.

"You know, I honestly wouldn't worry about it," Robin said lightly gesturing to Kid Flash. "If he's any indication, they would've tasted great." Kid Flash looked up at that moment and saw the collective gazes of the teenagers and swallowed loudly.

"What?" he asked. "I have a serious metabolism."

"Uh, I guess I can make some more then," Miss Martian offered, sounding confused.

"It was kind of you to make any," Aqualad said politely.

"Thanks, Aqualad," Miss Martian said smiling at the praise.

"We are among friends here, please call me Kaldur'ahm," Aqualad said. "Actually, my friends call me Kalder."

"I'm Wally," Kid Flash said using what Red X was starting to call his "Miss Martian voice." "See? I already trust you with my secret ID. Unlike Mr. Dark Sunglasses over there. Batman has forbidden him from telling anyone his real name." Wally gestured to Robin, who scowled at the speedster.

"Well, my name is no secret," Miss Martian said proudly. "It's M'Gann M'Orzz. But you can just call me Megan. Its an Earth name and I'm on Earth. ...And I'm babbling, sorry."

Superboy and Red X scowled and started to move away from the group, though for different reasons entirely. Neither had an interest in playing this naming game, as Superboy did not want to be reminded that he didn't have one, and Red X had a strong suspicion of what Robin's real name was. Megan saw Superboy start to move and misinterpreted his intentions. She reached out to his mind and inadvertently reached out to everyone's mind.

"Don't worry, Superboy,"she said in his head "We'll find you an Earth name, too."

"Get out of my head," Raven and Superboy yelled at the same time while everyone else clutched at their heads at the sudden volume behind their ears.

"What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone talks telepathically on Mars," she asked worriedly in their minds, accidentally increasing the stress on their mental states.

"I said get out!" Raven yelled forcefully shoving Megan out of her mind, her magic condensing around her entire body.

"Megan, stop!" Kalder ordered in a shout. "Things are different here on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

"My mind has my personal refuge from the chaos that is my life, not a toy for you to play around with," Raven hissed. "So stay out of our heads." With that, the demoness walked out of the room, her powers still a little out of her grasp.

"Okay, that was weird," Kid Flash said. He turned to look at Red X. "Mind telling us what that was about?"

"Yes," the dark-clad teen snapped before following his teammate.

"I, I, I didn't mean to-" Megan stuttered.

"Just. Stay. Out," Superboy snarled before he too stalked out of the small room , slamming himself onto a couch in the other room. Miss Martian looked down at the empty tray before she got an idea.

"Hello, Megan!" she exclaimed, smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I know what we can do."

She flew out of the room back towards the garage. Robin shrugged slightly at the other sidekicks before following her down the hall. Superboy heard them leave and looked over his shoulder at the hallway. He saw Miss Martian standing there looking at the floor in shame.

"Please, Superboy..." she pleaded quietly, not looking up at him.

"Don't talk to me," the clone growled before getting up and following her down the hall back to the hangar.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a red egg-shaped metal object sitting in the middle of the hangar. Megan smiled broadly as she beheld her ship.

"It's my Martian bioship," she explained proudly.

"Cute," Kid Flash observed. "Not very aerodynamic, but cute."

"Wasn't there an old TV show where an alien flew to Earth in egg?" Robin asked.

"I am unfamiliar with such a broadcast," Aqualad said.

"No sillies. She's just asleep right now," Miss Martian laughed. "Here I'll wake her."

She walked towards the egg and raised her hand. The red oval instantly changed its shape. It grew wings and expanded into a shuttle-like shape, twin engines in the back. It could easily fit all of them. Miss Martian swiped her hand to the right and the former egg spun around to where the back of the ship was facing the heroes. The broad end opened up and created a ramp into the small ship.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Megan asked, looking back at the team.

Unnerved, the young heroes stepped onto the ship and looked around. It was bigger than they expected-a medium sized cockpit with no seats to speak of, though that soon changed. As soon as Megan stepped into the room five seats grew out of the floor, arranged in a half circle around a larger chair in the center of the cockpit. Two white, glowing orbs supported by red stalks also grew out of the floor next to the larger chair. The walls were a fluorescent purple with small white strips flowing down the walls. Megan invited them to sit down and they took their seats with the Martian in the middle. As soon as they sat down, seatbelts grew out of the seats and wrapped themselves around the new passengers.

"Woah," Robin gasped as the seat belts tightened around him.

"This is cool," Kid Flash said, his mouth full of something he had snagged from the kitchen before they left.

"Red Tornado, this is Miss Martian. Please open the bay doors," she said clearly.

Instantly the giant metal doors on the other side of the room slid open. Miss Martian laid her hands on the white orbs and the ship raised itself off of the ground. They shot out of the bunker at an incredible speed, the G-force throwing the passengers back into their seat. The ship flew out over the harbor then turned until they were flying over the beach.

"Woah, this is incredible," Robin said, awed at Megan's flying. Kid Flash sighed in agreement.

"She sure is," he said, gazing at Miss Martian. When the girl turned to look at him he quickly backtracked. "-The ship, I mean. Which, like, all ships is a 'she.'"

"Hah," Robin snickered, "while he's fast with his feet, the same cannot be said for his mouth."

"Dude, really?" Kid Flash complained.

In the front of the ship, Aqualad turned to face Superboy. The clone flicked his eyes at the Atlantean before looking straight ahead, out of the window. Kaldur smiled gently.

"I understand how you feel," he whispered softly.

"You do?" Superboy asked, turning to face him.

"Yes, I do," Aqualad smiled once more. "You are not the only person on Earth who has overreacted to something. I suggest simply apologizing to her."

Superboy nodded, face still inscrutable, and turned back to looking out of the window. Kaldur smiled and looked out the window as well. Miss Martian saw the conversation but hadn't heard it. Her expression saddened and she looked down morosely, letting the bioship coast through the air a little. A hand on her knee turned her attention to Robin.

"Don't worry," he consoled quietly. "He'll come around. And I'm sure that Raven won't stay mad at you for long."

"They don't seem to like me very much," Megan said sadly. "And I found so much rage and sadness in the both of them."

"It's probably nothing," Robin said, though he filed that information away for later. "But Superboy will come around for sure."

"You guys do remember he has super-hearing, right?" Wally asked, leaning in to join the conversation. The two looked at each other worriedly before Robin decided to change the subject.

"Hey, while we're here, why don't you show us a little Martian shapeshifting?" he asked.

Megan smiled and stood up from her chair. She raised her hands above her head and suddenly changed into a female version of Robin. She lowered her arms and turned into an exact copy of Raven. The Boy Wonder and Kid Flash started to clap and Miss Martian finished off her performance. She spun on her toes and changed into a female version of the Speedster. She smiled at the passengers and then changed back to normal. Kid Flash continued to clap loudly and leaned back into his chair, smiling broadly at the Martian.

"Is it wrong that I think that I look hot like that?" he asked the others. Robin laughed at him and smiled at Megan.

"That's incredible, Miss M," he praised. "But I think you need a bit more work on some of your forms." Megan smiled at the praise but lowered her head sheepishly.

"Boys are harder for me to mimic," she explained.

"No big deal," Wally smiled. "Hey, can you do that ghosting thing that Manhunter does? Cause that's awesome."

"Density Shifting is a very advanced technique," Miss Martian frowned, fearing she would disappoint her new friends.

"Don't worry, nobody's perfect," Robin consoled, picking up on her hesitation. "Take KF for example. Flash can vibrate himself through solid objects. When he tries it, he gets a nosebleed," the Boy Wonder laughed and Wally smiled good-naturedly. Before Megan could reply, Red X's voice burst through the speakers hidden in the walls of the ship.

"Red X to team. We've got a situation at the local power plant. We need backup."

"Acknowledged, Red X," Megan replied. "We're on our way."

She turned the bioship on a dime then sped back towards the mountain they called home.

July 19 11:25 EDT

Raven stormed into the library and quickly disappeared in the massive shelves of books. She sat on the floor and began to meditate, trying to regain control of her emotions.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted as she began to float a foot off of the floor.

A few seconds later, Red X stepped into the large room and walked up behind her. He leaned against the side of one of the bookshelves across from her and crossed his arms, looking at her worriedly. He knew just how dangerous her emotions were.

"Well, that went well," he finally chuckled after she had calmed down a little. Raven sighed and stood up.

"It's not the same," she stated calmly, looking at her hand that held a small bit of her condensed magic.

"What do you mean?" Red X asked.

"This team," she said with her head lowered, probably with her eyes closed. "They aren't like ours was. They're too impatient. They don't work well together."

"You're right," Red X said. He uncrossed his arms and smiled. "But weren't we the same when we started out?" Raven didn't reply, preferring to instead to close her eyes and breath slowly. "You know, we haven't really seen the ocean here yet. Or the town for that matter. Care to join me?" Raven continued to float off the floor and sighed.

"Not now, Robin," she said tiredly in his mind.

Red X nodded and left the library. He went to his room and grabbed a few dull X-shuriken for something to do. He then left the cave with the projectiles and his bo staff, in case he felt like practicing, and headed for the beach right outside the cave. When he got there the sun was high in the sky, providing plenty of light for his work. Red X adjusted the edges on his "toys" and then flipped them through his fingers.

Once he was content with them and had finished his adjustments, he put away his weapons and crossed his arms. He stared out into the ocean, picturing himself standing on a much different beach, staring out on the sunrise. He thought of the day when he and Raven had stood admiring the one that Raven knew would have been the last they both saw, had the titans not stopped that future from happening. That train of thought led him to his former teammates.

"What are you doing, I wonder," he muttered to himself as he pictured the tower that had been his home for nearly six years. "How are you guys faring?"

Red X stared at the ocean before he shook his of his melancholic thoughts. He then looked to the town of Happy Harbor and saw that the wind had picked up. He turned back to the ocean and let the gentle splashing of the waves sooth him. It was only when he heard a distant scream that he paid closer attention to the winds he noticed that the "winds" that he had dismissed were growing stronger into a powerful gale. Red X's stomach flipped when he looked over, only to see a tower of debris rising into the sky, meeting a funnel of clouds. A tornado, headed straight for Happy Harbor. And if he was not mistaken, tornados were not common in that area of the continent.

"Raven!" He called to her mind. "We got trouble."

He could feel Raven nod before she made her way out of the cave. He started to run towards the screaming and saw Raven fly out of the side of the mountain, still in her civilian clothing.

"Here we go," he muttered before rushing forwards as fast as he could.

He rushed through the forest and emerged in front of the power plant where the now fully grown tornado was crashing around in the parking lot. Raven flew overhead but they both got a clear view of the cause of the citizens' distress.


	7. Demons Twisters and Heroes

Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, for beta-ing this for me.

Chapter Seven

demons, twisters, and heroes

what could possibly go wrong?

July 19 12:25 EDT

Miss Martian flew the Bioship over the power plant, looking for her comrades. She saw a large tornado following a small figure who was running away from the unnatural phenomena in the parking lot. She hastily landed the ship and everyone dropped through the floor. The tornado blew past them as it followed the irate Red X. Raven flew overhead, throwing cars at a large figure in the middle of a group of smaller tornados. As soon as one of the cars would get close, one of the tornados would snap itself in front of the vehicle and hurl it back at the demoness, faster than it had been going when she threw it.

"Raven!" Red X called out. "Fall back! We need to coordinate."

She nodded and flew back as Red X flipped out of the way of the tornado, nearly squashing him. The other heroes ran up to him as the tornado returned to its master. Red X glared at the man in red and looked back at the team. Miss Martian looked concerned while the others were scowling at the new foe.

"What's the deal?" Robin demanded immediately.

"Tornados," Red X said simply. "Can't get close enough to do any real damage. Haven't found any weak points either. I don't sugge-Robin?"

He had turned to look at the boy only to find him gone, with nothing but haunting laughter in his wake. Raven glowered and pointed at the red man. He was about seven feet tall and covered in robotic armor. Over that, a black outer shell that covered his arms and the sides of his chest. His eyes were nothing more than menacing blue slits and just behind his head were large blue tubes that went from his back to his arms. The bottom half of his face was covered by a loosely wrapped brown scarf. Completing the armor was a large, single black stripe going down the center of the entire armor. Running up to the man was Robin, fist at the ready.

"Get back!" Red X yelled as the man in red launched a powerful tornado at the Boy Wonder.

Everyone ducked as Robin and several cars flew over their heads. Raven raised her hand and managed to safely extract Robin from the debris with her powers. He groaned a little as she set him down. The heroes looked him over quickly and thankfully saw nothing out of the ordinary aside from a few bruises.

"Who is this guy?" Kid Flash asked.

"We didn't exactly sit down and exchange pleasantries," Red X replied.

"Whoever he is, let's get him," Superboy said, getting into a combat stance.

"Now that's something I can get behind," Kid Flash said excitedly. "Race ya!"

"No, Kid!" Aqualad said before the two sped off. "We need a plan of attack, not just attack randomly. Miss Martian, see if you can find a way to stop him from creating more tornados. Raven, X, how are you two?"

Red X scowled and dug through his pockets. He pulled out three X-Shuriken and his collapsed bo staff. Raven looked at the red villain determinedly but even Aqualad could see that she was tired. How long had they been fighting before they called for help?

"This is all I have," Red X said. "And without my suit, I can't use any of my other gadgets."

"I can fight," Raven said.

"Very well, then we need to do so carefully," Aqualad replied as Kid Flash skidded to a stop in front of them.

"I was prepared to be fighting a superhero," the man in red said. "I was not expecting to be fighting children. No matter. You will make for good practice."

"Is it me or does he sound like your stereotypical nameless bad guy?" Kid Flash asked as he got up. Robin got up as well, though a bit slower.

"My apologies, you may address me as Mister Twister," the man in red said, apparently hearing the remark. With a wave of his hand, he suddenly sent Superboy flying through the air to join the others. "And I suggest you children leave while you still can."

"We're not children!" Robin yelled as he threw two explosive disks at Mister Twister.

The tornado-based villain stopped the first disk by generating two tornados in front of him. When it exploded the tornados disappeared, allowing the second disk to imbed itself into the armor. Twister growled and flicked the disk out of his armor before it exploded a few feet away.

"Tell me then-what are you?" he asked. "If you are not children, then why are you being beaten so badly? I've been fighting those two for almost an hour and they've already given up." He pointed to Red X and Raven, who both scowled and crouched back into battle stances. Twister laughed and opened his palms wide, generating a small current through the air. "Well, I see they haven't lost all of their will to fight. I find that quite disturbing."

"Well, we'd hate to see you 'disturbed,'" Robin yelled angrily before he leaped at the villain, four disks at the ready. "Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!"

"Robin, don't!" Red X yelled, having experience with the results of that particular tactic.

The others followed the boy, trying to help the youngest member of the team. Miss Martian flew up above everyone and grabbed some cars with her telekinesis, throwing them at the villain. Superboy and Aqualad yelled and leaped at Twister, both swinging punches at him. Kid Flash rushed forwards, trying to speed through the villain defences, but was only blown away as a tornado sprang up to stop him. Meanwhile, Robin rolled forward and threw his succession of exploding disks. They were deflected with ease by another tornado that was generated by the red-armored villain.

Apparently losing patience with them, Mister Twister lived up to his name and generated a massive tornado that flung everyone and everything back. A giant cloud of dust sprung up which covered the entire parking lot from sight, the winds sending cars and exploding disks flying in all directions. Red X and Raven ducked as several explosions sent shrapnel and rubble flying through the air. When the dust cleared, Robin was laying with several deactivated exploding disks scattered around him in the middle of the parking lot and Superboy was laying under Aqualad on top of a tipped over car. Miss Martian was laying in a heap not too far from the dark-clad heroes.

"I would have thought that you children would have learned your lesson by now," Twister said as he watched Kid Flash fly in the direction that he had just come from. Aqualad stood up from his landing spot and glared at the villain.

"What do you want?!" he shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Twister asked, flying into the air. "I want to face a real hero, not some kids who want to have a playdate."

"Oh, I'll show you a playdate!" Robin snarled at the villain as he got up. He turned to face Miss Martian who was standing up shakily and gestured angrily at their opponent. "Megan, read his mind! Find a way to destroy him." Miss Martian looked at the villain with apprehension.

"But you said to not use my powers on other people," she reminded nervously.

"It's fine to do it on the bad guys!" Robin shouted at her before running away from another tornado. He ran over to where Superboy, Aqualad, and Kid Flash had gathered, ready to come up with a new plan.

"O-okay," Miss Martian said before flying over to them and landing, closing her eyes and feeling out with her mind.

She felt everyone there as she slightly brushed against their consciousness. She could feel the rage and determination radiating off of Robin, a mental link between Raven and Red X-she made a note to herself to look into that later- as well as the minds of a few animals that were cowering in the trees by the parking lot. But she could not feel anything coming from Twister.

"I'm sorry, I'm not getting anything from him," she stated before an idea struck her. "Hello, Megan! Mister Twister is obviously Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic-an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate and control tornados?"

Robin growled as he connected the dots. He slammed his fist into his open palm while the other teenagers nodded their heads in agreement. Kid Flash sighed before stating what everyone else was thinking.

"He did say that we were going to be tested soon."

"And this is it?" Robin seethed. "Something to keep us busy a while longer?"

"Perhaps Speedy was correct," Aqualad stated sadly. "We are but a joke in the eyes of the Justice League."

"Let's be done with this," Superboy snarled, turning to face 'Tornado' with the others following angrily at his heels.

"Have you decided to surrender?" Twister asked as the group neared him. Robin glared at the villain and snarled.

"We know who we are and what you want!" he snarled at the villain.

"Really?" Twister asked. "And just who am I?

On the other side of the parking lot, Red X and Raven looked up from their cover to see the team standing in a group in front of the lunatic who had been nothing but a thorn in their side all day.

What are they doing?! Red X asked Raven in his mind as they stared at the group.

They're idiots, she replied simply. As they watched, Twister generated a storm above their heads, lightning sparking through the air. Raven's assessment was nearly confirmed when the team did nothing other than shout at the armored man. Complete and utter idiots.

Get ready to stop any attack thrown our way, Red X sighed mentally. We get the responsibility of saving them from their own stupidity.

Raven nodded and flew at the group just before Twister's storm shot a stream of lightning around the team. Kid Flash looked at the others and asked something, but Red X couldn't hear him over the booming thunder. Red X tackled Miss Martian to the ground just as Raven brought up a black dome around the group. The lightning struck the shield half a second later, exploding on impact. Thanks to Raven's shield, none of them felt anything. Twister flew away from them and laughed.

"I suggest you stay in there, children, whilst I fight the real heroes," he said, the smirk evident in his voice.

With that, the air-based villain flew away from the group of heroes. Once he was far enough away, Raven lowered the dome. Robin instantly turned to Red X and snarled.

"What are you doing?" Red X snarled before Robin could even begin his sentence.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Robin asked

"We're am trying to keep you idiots alive!" Red X snarled. "I told you what wouldn't work. But you all simply rushed ahead with no regard for your team's safety to try and see who was the better hero!"

"What the hell do you know about being a hero, thief?" Robin snarled. "What the hell do you know about any of us?" Red X's face contorted slightly before he grinned cockily.

"I know a lot more than you might think, Richie," he said. Robin stiffened and backed up a step. Raven's eyes widened at her partner's impulsiveness and stepped forwards to put a stop to the argument before it got further out of hand.

"It's not his fault!" Superboy growled before pointing at Miss Martian. "It's hers. She tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado."

"Woah, Supie, calm down. It was just a rookie mistake," Kid Flash defended her, stepping in between the Martian and the clone. "Not her fault. We can let her sit this one out for the time being until she's ready."

"Enough!" Raven shouted, her outburst freezing everyone. When the group turned to look at her, she just as suddenly returned to her emotionless state. "This is pointless. You win some battles, you lose others. Squabbling amongst each other will not help anyone.

"I agree. Everyone, stand down," Aqualad said. "Fighting after a defeat like this is not productive."

"Who cares?" Robin hissed, turning away from the group. "They didn't help now. I doubt they ever will. Come on guys, we can stop Twister ourselves."

Kid Flash and Superboy nodded as Robin ran in the direction of the docks, following him in his pursuit of Twister. Raven scowled and Red X sighed.

"This is going well," Red X said sarcastically.

"This team is soo ready for the big leagues," Raven added, equally sarcastic. Aqualad sighed and looked at them.

"Honestly, I'm not even sure this is a team," he said sadly before following the others.

Miss Martian stood staring at the spots where the others had stood not moments before in shock and pain. She slumped to her knees with a sniffle.

"I just wanted to help," she muttered sadly. "I'm sorry."

Red X sighed, feeling just as defeated once his anger at the Boy Wonder had passed. He watched the others running after their adversary in the distance, wanting to help them but knowing they wouldn't listen to him.

"It doesn't matter what you do," Raven muttered. "You can't change what others decide to believe."

"Come on," Red X scowled after a few minutes of staring. "They'll never win at this rate. Megan, how fast can the Bioship travel?"

"Uh, pretty fast, why?" she answered. Red X grinned mischievously

"We need to pick up some toys," he replied.

People screamed as multiple tornadoes ravaged the docks, sending boats and buildings flying through the air. In the center of the chaos, Mister Twister floated a few inches off of the ground, moving his creations with movements of his hands.

"Surely this will garner the attention I desire," he muttered as he sent another tornado at a group of civilians.

"Well, you got ours. Is that enough?" Kid Flash asked as he ran up behind Twister.

He jumped into the air and landed a powerful two legged kick off the back of the villain that did nothing more than push him forwards a few feet. Twister turned to face the speedster, his eyes flashing menacingly.

"You are immaterial and insignificant," Twister said angrily. "A distraction I will no longer tolerate. If the lives of these people will not attract the attention of a true hero, then perhaps yours will."

Just as Twister finished speaking, a loud yell cut through the air. He looked up to see Superboy streaking towards him from the sky. Twister floated to the side just before Superboy could hit him. He paused and generated two tornados to send the boys flying away from him. Both heroes jumped away from the tornadoes, with Superboy immediately running at the villain.

Twister sent another tornado at the clone while Kid Flash ran behind the floating man to land a flurry of punches on the armor. The red-haired boy immediately leapt back, clutching his hand as the armor showed no signs of damage. Using the distraction, Aqualad and Robin vaulted over a car to send a surprise attack on Twister as his back was turned. However, the villain heard them and quickly spun around and launched a ring of powerful air at the heroes, watching as the tornado's winds threw them into a large house.

"You know the plan, right?" Red X asked as he pulled on his glove and connected the wires. Raven and Miss Martian nodded. "Good. Then set us down, Miss Martian."

Megan steered her ship behind the buildings that formed a ring around the battlefield and set it down. She quickly opened the hatch and got up from her seat. Red X shot out of his seat and ran out of the Bioship, Raven and Miss Marian flying behind him. Red X ran out into the center of the docks and watched as Aqualad flew into the building beside him.

"Twister!" he shouted. "You wanted a real battle? Here I am!"

Twister turned to face the now fully-suited hero. His eyes flashed before he raised his hands, palms facing Red X.

"Who are you?" Twister asked cautiously.

"X. Red X," Red X replied choppily, thinking back of when he first wore the suit and posed as a shifty criminal.

"Very well," Twister replied. "Let us begin."

Without another word, Twister sent a tornado at the boy. Red X jumped to the side then sprang at Twister. He landed close to the red-armored villain and quickly slapped his chest with his right hand before back flipping away. Twister chortled before a bright red glow caught his eye. He looked down to see a bright red X stuck to his chest.

"Gotcha," Red X said before the X exploded.

Twister was blown backwards by the force of the blast before he steadied himself. Before he was truly steady, he was punched in the face by Red X. Twister spun around before launching a tornado at Red X. Red X quickly placed a hand on his belt and teleported a few feet away, appearing with two shuriken in his hands.

"Try this," he said before throwing the weapons and jumping aside.

As soon as he was out of the way a red-colored tornado flew over him and barreled into Twister, who had spun away from the projectiles. The tornado pushed Twister away from the others, who had congregated with Raven, albeit unhappily. Twister looked to see Red Tornado standing behind Red X. Twister spread his arms wide and laughed.

"Ah, Tornado, I was wondering when you would show up," Twister stated contemptuously.

"I am here now," Red Tornado stated. He looked to the team. "Hit the showers. This is evidently not your fight."

"But, Tornado!" Kid Flash complained.

"This subject is not up for debate," Red Tornado stated, turning his head back to focus on his opponent.

"But-fine," Robin sighed.

Red Tornado nodded and immediately shot his hand towards Twister. A red-colored tornado flew towards him, causing the villain to strafe to the left to avoid it. He sent a large tornado at the red android, only for the hero to stop its progress with a wave of his hand. Twister growled then prepared for another bout.

"It appears that your abilities are on par with mine," Red Tornado said robotically before sending a large gust of wind that carried several chunks of rock and rubble towards Twister.

"No, they are not," Twister snarled as he dodged the rocks and sent an arc of lightning at the robot.

The bolt struck Red Tornado square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the pile of rubble he had picked the rocks from. The android tried to get up, sparking ominously, before he collapsed and went still. Twister walked over to the body and laughed. The villain sent wires out of his fingers that connected themselves to the back of Red Tornado's head.

"And now you return home," Twister said. Suddenly, Red Tornado reached up and grabbed the wires, ripping them from his head.

"That family reunion will have to wait," Miss Martian said as she shapeshifted out of the form of Red Tornado.

Twister yelled in rage, jerking his hand away from Miss Martian. He immediately raised his hand to aim at her head. Before he could do anything, however, Red X jumped onto his back and wrapped his arms around the villain's neck.

"Do you children know no other tricks?" Twister asked in an annoyed tone as he reached up and threw Red X away from him. Red X flipped in mid-air and landed in a crouch before standing up in a combat stance.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven yelled as she encased Twister's arms in black energy.

"Checkmate," Red X muttered darkly before Raven ripped off Twister's arms.

The arms were obviously robotic, sparking and crunching as they were torn free. Red X rushed in as soon as the appendages were torn off and pressed an Explosive X into each arm socket. Miss Martian didn't miss a beat as she sent Twister flying straight up into the air with her telekinesis. Just as the villain was starting to come down, he exploded, sending robotic parts falling down around them.

The largest piece fell down behind the trio making everyone turn and look at it. Inside a skeletal frame was a frail man in a green pilot suit. The man looked at them and started to shiver in the suit.

"Foul! I call foul!" he cried frantically.

"Be quiet already," Raven said before grabbing a large boulder with her powers and bringing it to hover over the man and the suit.

"Raven, don't!" Aqualad shouted, rushing towards the girl as she dropped the rock on the man. Robin and the others gaped at her in shock and rage before Robin broke the silence.

"I don't know about you, but where I come from you don't EXECUTE your captives!" Robin shouted.

"Please," Raven scoffed. "Use your head. Both myself and the Martian couldn't sense any thoughts from him. Therefore, he could not have had a mind of his own."

She grabbed the rock again and lifted it away from the man. A sparking, robotic carcass greeted the heroes. The villain known as Mister Twister had been nothing but an android. Kid Flash stepped forwards and picked up an intact part from the wreckage, an eyeball.

"Cool," he said, flipping the eyeball up into the air and catching it. "Souvenir."

"I apologize," Aqualad said to Raven. "I should have had more faith in you. It was a good plan, all of you."

Red X and Raven nodded while Miss Martian practically beamed at the praise. Kid Flash nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, you guys totally rocked this mission," he laughed. "Get it? Rocked." Robin sighed and rolled his eyes before gesturing to the heap of scrap metal that had been Twister.

"While we're all turbed that you're on the team and helped us win we should probably get this to Tornado and see what he thinks of all this," he said.

In the lab that had generated both Red Tornado and Mister Twister, two scientists watched a video of the fight on a screen. The scientist on the right turned to the one on the left and smiled.

"I'd say that was very successful, wouldn't you?" he asked.

"Yes, it was, though I'm glad you convinced me to not pilot the Twister armor," the lefthand scientist replied.

"But have you found out where they reside?" a raspy voice cut in from behind them, its owner hidden in the shadows of the room.

"Ah, no, the robot was unable to locate the quarters of this new team," the righthand scientist said fearfully.

"Then keep searching," the voice replied. "You won't leave this room until I have what I want. And if you fail me, I will kill you painfully. That is a promise... and I always keep my promises."

"Red Tornado!" Robin called out as the Zeta tube powered down. "We need to speak with you." The robot stepped out of a tunnel and stared at them.

"What is it, children?" he asked. "Does this have anything to do with the reports I have been getting of unnatural storms in the area?"

Robin nodded as Miss Martian stepped forwards with the metallic carcase trapped in her power. Aqualad raised a table from the sparring ring and Megan set the scrap pile onto it. The teenagers gathered around the table as Red Tornado examined the remains.

"So, this android is what had you occupied today?" Red Tornado asked.

"Yes," Kalder replied "And it was clearly sent to destroy or incapacitate you."

"Indeed," the android agreed.

"Is that why you wouldn't help when we called you?" Megan asked earning a few shocked stares from the others.

"No," Red Tornado said simply. "I do not believe it is my role to fight your battles for you, nor should you fight mine for me. Still, the presence of this Twister troubles me. I will look into it."

With that said, the robot turned away from the table and walked down the hall. The team looked at his retreating form in surprise.

"Well, that's new," Robin said.

"Yeah," Wally agreed. "Batman, Flash, even Aquaman, would have jumped right in and fixed things"

"I guess if we're going to have a babysitter there's nothing better than a heartless robot." Robin said grudgingly.

"Dude!" Wally exclaimed. "Harsh."

"And inaccurate." Red Tornado's voice called out from the hall where the robot had stopped. "I have a heart, carbon steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

"Uh, I guess I'll try to be more accurate in the future, then," Robin said sheepishly.

"And more respectful," Kalder cut in, laying a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Please do," Red Tornado said, nodding before resuming his walk down the hall.

"Oh, Speedy was so wrong," Wally said happily as he and the other sidekicks walked towards the kitchen.

"This team thing just might work out," Aqualad said. Superboy started to follow them before he turned to Megan.

"Sorry," he muttered softly before following the others down the hall.

"Looks like you were wrong," Red X smiled to Raven as they stood off to the side. "They're no different than our team." Raven nodded before walking down the hall to her room to meditate.

Excerpt from case file 1081 on secured hardrive located on the Batcomputer.

"Despite my first assumptions, they helped the sidekicks in retrieving and escaping with the clone. They were then allowed to join the team, despite my objections. Robin has been told to keep an eye of them, for the good of the League. He accepted with little complaint, as expected. Once Manhunter's niece joins them, the team could become a threat should they turn against the League. Therefore I am updating the Agamemnon Contingency plans to include them as well. The only unknown factors, however, are Red X and Raven. Without more details they are wild cards in this entire equation. This shall be remedied soon."


End file.
